Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2010

When Sylvester Stallone showed up to promote new movie The Expendables at Shibuya AX recently, he must have thought he was attending a casting session for Rambo 5 instead. The audience was full of young Japanese dressed in Rambo gear—many of whom weren’t even born when Stallone’s famous character first hit the big screen in 1982. It’s a testament to the actor’s staying power that faithful fans of the Rocky and Rambo series have stuck with him for more than 30 years.

“I’m very touched by this. I love you guys,” said the 64-year-old, who was joined by Swedish actor and Expendables co-star Dolph Lundgren. “I’ve been very lucky with movies like Rocky, Rambo, Cliffhanger. At this point in my life, I feel like a teacher, and I should use my experience to find the next generation of men who want to carry on the action genre.”

The Expendables—which Stallone also wrote and directed—is a tribute to action movies of the ’80s, bringing together Lundgren, Jason Statham, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke, as well as former NFL star Terry Crews, former pro wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and Ultimate Fighting champ Randy Couture. Even Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger make cameos. The plot concerns a gang of mercenaries, the eponymous Expendables, on a mission to overthrow the dictator of a Caribbean nation who’s being propped up by a drug-dealing rogue CIA agent (Eric Roberts).

The story is just an excuse to have a lot of fun, with all manner of murder and mayhem ensuing. Filming the fight scenes with Crews, Austin and Couture got pretty rough, said Stallone, because they tended to get carried away. “They are mean and a little crazy. There were times when they didn’t understand they were making a movie and would try to smash your head through a wall. It’s difficult to keep guys like that calm because they are athletes.” Stallone was also happy to reunite with Lundgren, his Rocky IV costar. “He put me in hospital for four days after that, but I forgive him,” he joked.

Stallone said he’s tough on his actors, but added that he’s hard on himself, too. “In many ways, actors are like children, and I often have to remind them what they are doing. I went to each actor and made sure that they understood the philosophy of this movie, that all of them—despite their different fighting skills—were making the same movie. In a regular job, you can have a bad day and it’s forgotten. But if you have a bad day in a movie, it’s going to be there forever.”

There is one man that even Stallone would find it difficult to be hard on: yokozuna Hakuho. The actor visited the Mongolian sumo grand champion on the day he won his 16th Emperor’s Cup last month, and got a surprise when Hakuho effortlessly lifted him off his feet. “The fury of the sport is so fantastic,” he said after watching a few bouts.

At the meet-and-greet session with his young fans, Stallone advised them not to let life pass them by. He recalled how his early life was a struggle to make it in the movie business—he played a punk on a train in Woody Allen’s 1971 film Bananas, but one year later failed an audition to play a wedding extra in The Godfather.

“You have two choices in life: to fight or quit. My motto has always been to never give up, give in or give out. If I could go back in time to talk to myself as a young man, I would say there may be times when you are trying to find your way in the world and you have to be arrogant or egotistical, but there is a time to put it away.”

Stallone said he looks forward to an Expendables sequel, which will start filming next March. Bruce Willis will be back in a bigger part, with Mike Tyson a rumored villain and perhaps another appearance by Schwarzenegger. “It was great having Arnold for a cameo,” said Stallone. “He loves to make fun of himself. Next time, I’ll make him work even harder.”

Chris Betros is the editor of Japan Today (www.japantoday.com).