Sylvester Stallone wants more serious roles

Sylvester Stallone says he’ll ”explode” if he signs up for any more action films.

The 67-year-old actor – who is famed for his role as Rocky Balboa in the boxing franchise – thinks his career in the action genre has reached its peak, and is hoping to take on more serious roles in future.

Speaking with an audience at London’s Palladium, Stallone said: ”This is the direction I feel like doing now. There’s not much more I can do in action except explode!”

Stallone claims it’s been challenging to prove himself as a serious actor, explaining that he made the decision to take the lead role in 1997’s ‘Cop Land’ after critics began to pigeonhole him following a string of action roles and ‘Rocky’ sequels.

He explained: ”I was at a point where the criticism was starting to bother me because I started in the industry as a serious actor. People forget that in Rocky there was only six minutes of boxing in it. The rest was talking.”

‘Cop Land’ failed to match the commercial success of the ‘Rocky’ series, however Stallone praised the films writer-director and his famous co-stars, insisting he was grateful to have been involved.

Stallone gushed: ”Jim Mangold had written a brilliant script. I wanted to work with really good actors and just see how you hold up against them; Bobby De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick.

”It served a purpose. I wish it had been more successful but it’s just something I’m really glad I did because it made me realise what I wanted to do in the future.”