This is the role that Sylvester Stallone has been dreaming about his whole career: the script took only one day to write!

What if Sylvester Stallone had revealed himself to the general public with a movie other than Rock? When he started acting, the latter auditioned for the film The Godfather, but his performance failed to convince Francis Ford Coppola, who preferred Al Pacino for the role of Michael Corleone.

Although he managed to break through by taking his own destiny into his own hands (he wrote the script for The Rock himself), Sly always harbored an eternal regret that he would never be able to play a real gangster role. Speaking with producer David Glasser, screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone) heard about this regret and decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

Life’s dream came true in one day!

in the given interview The Hollywood ReporterThe American producer says that 24 hours after their discussion, the latter received a message that “Check your mailbox”. The script, written in less than a day, was sent to him by Taylor Sheridan: “There was a script attached called Kansas City King and it was amazing.”

The 54-year-old screenwriter is known for his speed of execution. It is for this reason that the latter can himself write, or even co-write, the scripts for his seven series that are currently on air.

Two days after the discussion, the two partners presented the project to Sylvester Stallone and received approval. The latter then recruited an additional ally in the form of Terence Winter, one of the most iconic screenwriters of the Sopranos series. The latter was commissioned to develop the project by Taylor Sheridan with the following simple words: “It’s your baby now.”.

The first change made by Terence Winter is a title modification. “It didn’t seem far enough. As a New Yorker, I wondered where the middle would be. I looked at the map and immediately thought Oklahoma.” Thus, the King of Kansas City became the King of Tulsa.

Sylvester Stallone’s working methods worried the screenwriter

The screenwriter also had to be flexible to adapt to Stallone’s working methods. While working on The Sopranos, the actors of the series had a habit of respecting the written dialogue. Sylvester Stallone, himself a prolific screenwriter, is adept at rewriting and improvising.

“With Stallone, we have a writer, director, producer and editor, he has very good ideas and very strong opinions about certain things.” Terence Winter told the Hollywood Reporter about it. “He knows himself inside out, so he knows what can work with him and what he does best.”

The first season of Tulsa King is currently offered every Tuesday on M6. The show’s second season airs every week on the Paramount+ streaming service, which is also available with a Canal+ subscription.

Discover the list of series currently available on the platform!