Stallone toys with comedy as villain in 'Spy Kids 3-D'

By Andy Seiler
USA Today

Sylvester Stallone admits his is not the first name that comes to mind when you think of children's comedy.

But here he comes in "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over," opening July 25. Stallone plays The Toymaker, the latest villain up against the young hero and heroine of the popular big-screen series. As an added appeal, this final chapter in the series is shot in high-definition 3-D.

In "Game Over," Stallone will not just be smashing preconceptions, he'll be doing it several times over. The Toymaker, you see, has multiple personalities.

"This is a man who's having all these struggles in his own brain," Stallone says. "I'm stretching the emotional rubber band. Part of him is The Dictator, this hellbent, military, crush-them-all guy. I do a little takeoff of George C. Scott, but perhaps under the influence of a gallon of espresso. One of them is The Scientist. And one of them is The Hippie, the peace-and-love and why-can't-we-get-along-and-let's-join-hands-and-we-are-the-world kind of guy. He's definitely a throwback to Haight-Ashbury." The Toymaker also impersonates a "news reporter, kind of a Mortimer Snerd-TV-commentator type," Stallone says.

The Toymaker has been banished to cyberspace, where he attempts to lure the unsuspecting to join him.

"And once they're there," Stallone says, "they're never going back."

Stallone knows what that feels like. After writing and starring in "Rocky," the 1976 Oscar winner for best picture, he became one of the top stars in Hollywood. But a series of flops had him floundering. His most recent hit was the 1998 computer-animated "Antz," for which he provided the voice of a tough worker ant. Three of his most recent movies, "D-Tox," "Avenging Angelo" and "Shade" — went directly to video.

"That happens when you get involved with certain projects that become a shadow of their original conception," says Stallone, who turns 57 on July 7. "You have to learn to roll with those punches. If you do take it personally, it's a stigma that can stifle you in going any further with your life."

So Stallone is grateful that innovative writer-director Robert Rodriguez has handed him a plum role in a successful series. And it's a comedy part, which Stallone hasn't had the chance to try ("Antz" aside) in more than a decade.

"It's something that I'm never presented with," he says frankly. "You are perceived in a certain way. People feel comfortable, and I'm no exception, in going with the safe route." Stallone made eight movies featuring his two iconic figures, Rocky and Rambo.

Now he is taking a different road, and he's well aware of potential pitfalls.

"I tell my friends when you're watching 'Biography,' always turn it off before the last half-hour," Stallone says. "It always turns out to be a nightmare ride through career hell. That's the part you try to edit out of your life."