5 THINGS ABOUT SAMARITAN
Everything we know about Sylvester Stallone’s superhero thriller
1. THE FILM — AND ITS HERO — ARE REFRESHINGLY DOWN TO EARTH
In Samaritan, a young boy discovers that a legendary superhero (Sylvester Stallone) — one long thought missing or dead — is actually living incognito in his neighbourhood. And he’s not without issues. “Superheroes tend to be unbreakable and indestructible,” says director Julius Avery, “but it’s much more interesting to see flawed superheroes in a world that has real consequences. This is a grounded superhero movie.”
2. IT’S STALLONE’S FIRST SUPERHERO
“When I was growing up, we had action heroes,” says Avery of the 1970s and ’80s. “Sly was the closest thing to a superhero before they were a thing. Having him in an actual superhero movie was such a rad idea.” Meanwhile, 74-year-old Stallone has embraced the role, doing many of his own stunts. “It’s going to be mind-blowing to people,” Avery says. “Like — how the hell is he doing that?”
3. IT’S A DARK TWIST ON THE GENRE
With Avery responsible for 2018’s gory and thrilling Nazi zombie-horror Overlord, this is not one for the sunny and the smiley — or indeed, the faint-hearted. “It feels like a gritty action movie from the ’70s or ’80s that happens to have superheroes in,” he says. “Those movies were hard-hitting — they had all these broken characters. Although with a lot of heart.” Its backdrop, meanwhile, takes its cue from the real world. “It’s kind of what would America look like five years from now. Like a Walter Hill world, with a heightened reality.”
4. THE KID IS AS IMPRESSIVE AS THE ADULTS
Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton is 14 years old and already an up-and-coming young actor who starred in HBO’S Euphoria, as well as what many have called a boxing prodigy. The latter passion was unknown to the casting department when they first put Walton opposite one of the most formidable on-screen fighters, but soon the kid and Stallone were inseparable. “They were constantly duking it out over fantasy boxing matches,” says Avery. “Like, who would win between Mike Tyson and some guy from the ’80s. I’d be like, ‘Can you guys go back to running lines?’”
5. STALLONE IS HAVING FUN
Fans might expect the real Stallone to be something like his legendary screen portrayals of Rocky Balboa or John Rambo. But instead, Avery says, “He’s not a tortured soul. He’s an extrovert and really funny, with a wicked sense of humour. A lot of that comes across in the character he plays in this movie. It will be a sort of Sly we haven’t seen before.” SAMARITAN IS DUE IN CINEMAS FROM 4 JUNE