Entertainment

Sylvester Stallone showered in his clothes to survive before ‘Rocky’ fame

Before Sylvester Stallone became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, he had just $60 to his name — with $43.60 already set aside for rent. But even as he struggled to make ends meet in New York City, the future “Rocky” icon refused to give up on his dream.
In his new memoir, “The Steps,” Stallone recounts the years before fame, including his arrival in New York City in 1969, determined to become an actor despite poverty, rejection and uncertainty.
The 80-year-old told Fox News Digital that even in his darkest moments, he held on to the belief that his life would eventually change for the better.
SYLVESTER STALLONE’S ADVICE TO THOSE WHO ARE STRUGGLING 50 YEARS AFTER ‘ROCKY’ CHANGED HIS LIFE
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“I think it comes from naïveté and the folly of youth, that you still have this sense of, ‘I can do it, I can break the mold,'” Stallone said. “I hadn’t been beaten enough by life yet to say it’s over because, as an actor, if you haven’t made it by 30, I’d say 99% you’re never going to make it. I wasn’t aware of that, so I kept going.”
“In New York, when I was really down and out, I didn’t focus on, ‘God, you’re going to be destitute,'” Stallone said. “There was this certain optimism that if you put every effort forward, if you denied yourself every moment of pleasure of going to the movies, dating a girl — if you abandoned all that and dedicate yourself, I believe that you’ll know 100% whether you actually have a chance to be this character you always wished you could be.”
Stallone never stopped believing he would one day make it as an actor.
WATCH: SYLVESTER STALLONE REFLECTS ON CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, ‘ROCKY’ AND WHY ‘TRYING’ MATTERS MOST
After leaving the American College in Switzerland without graduating and dropping out of the University of Miami just a few credits shy of a drama degree, Stallone returned to New York City with little to his name. He rented a room so cramped that he later compared it to the minimum size recommended for a federal jail cell. He shared a bathroom with 10 other people.
Stallone also found work as an usher at a movie theater, earning just $34 a week. He said the job became an education in filmmaking. Night after night, he studied the movies he watched, keeping his dream alive.
Stallone said he would shower with his clothes on to save money on laundry. If he were lucky enough to find a bar of soap that didn’t have a “strange hair” stuck to it, he would use it to lather up “my shirt, pants, underwear, socks — and myself.”
“I could never afford to go to a laundromat,” Stallone said. “My wife thinks this is so gross, ‘Why would you take a shower with your clothes on?’ I said, ‘It made sense to me at the time, rather than going down to the laundromat. But this was a tenement home. It was so bad. But you do what you could to survive.'”
To stave off hunger, Stallone would eat spoonfuls of cottage cheese, then down three or four raw eggs. In the book, he recalled later treating himself to chicken breast and apple juice.
“It’s the only thing that made sense numerically, financially,” he said. “Of course, it’s all wrong. It’s terrible. I’m surprised I didn’t get salmonella, really. It’s really quite remarkable. But these two things at a certain time of year, because in the summer, the cottage cheese would rot, and the eggs would spoil.
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“But if you brought it from around October, it would sit on your windowsill until March. So that became my refrigerator. And at the time, I just thought it was so convenient. No dishes. You drink the egg, so you don’t have to wash anything. You didn’t need a fork. And the cottage cheese, it’s a spoon, and you throw the cup away.”
Stallone wrote in the book, “I wouldn’t recommend this diet to anyone. But if you’re young and poor, it will suffice, which is why I used eating raw eggs in ‘Rocky’ to give some insight into Rocky’s ways of approaching his life.”
Stallone had a dollar or two a day for food. He needed a job, and fast.
One of Stallone’s earliest gigs was cleaning the lion cages at Central Park Zoo. The smell was bad enough — but it wasn’t what frightened him.
“I also feared for my life,” he wrote. “The lions were always close by, always watching. They looked through me. They were behind a set of bars, but that didn’t stop the great sad creatures from wedging their huge snouts between the bars to sniff me out. The way they inhaled and exhaled made an eerie moaning sound, like they already knew what I was going to taste like.”
During that period, Stallone faced repeated rejection from agents, including one who criticized his deep voice and asymmetrical mouth — two traits that would later become signatures of his screen persona.
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Walking home one day, he spotted a “Help Wanted” sign at Dover Delicatessen and took the 6 p.m.-to-2 a.m. shift. While he was able to save enough money for a coat to brave the city’s bitter winter, it’s one gig he doesn’t miss.
“Every customer gets cranky over this and that, ‘Hey, there’s not enough coleslaw here. This sandwich should weigh an ounce and a half more,'” Stallone said with a laugh. “You’d be shocked. I learned to be a really good fish cutter, like for lox on bagels. I still would hear, ‘I can’t see through the salmon.’ They wanted the cut so thin that you could actually see light. Oh man. And you’re cutting your fingers off, too.”
“And then the characters that come in at two in the morning, the outrageous drunks and gangsters, unbelievable,” Stallone continued. “You’d be shocked who walks into a place at two in the morning and wants a sandwich. So that’s colorful. And of course, I ended up in jail, but that’s only because of the stupid deli.”
“I thought I was living OK, a decent life,” he said. “But by today’s standards, you were on the cusp of oblivion.”
After an altercation at the deli, Stallone found himself handcuffed in the back of a police car, still wearing his apron and name tag. He was sent to “The Tombs,” New York’s notoriously violent detention facility — or, as Stallone put it, “the place of nightmares.” He was put into a 20-foot-by-20-foot holding cell with at least 25 other men. One man was already pounding another’s head into a small hole that prisoners used as a toilet.
A criminal court judge eventually released Stallone.
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“I took the apron, balled it up and tossed it in the trash on the way out the door,” he wrote.
Today, Stallone has zero regrets.
“If you don’t sacrifice completely and fail, you’ll suffer for the rest of your life going, ‘Why didn’t I try harder? Why didn’t I use whatever God-given talent I had to be the absolute best?'” Stallone said. “If you fail, you can say, ‘I tried.’ People can never point a finger in your face and say, ‘You didn’t try hard enough.’ But my biggest fear was that I would leave something on the table.”
Looking back, Stallone said those difficult years taught him a lesson that still resonates in “Rocky” decades later.
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“‘Rocky’ still points out that if you’re willing to completely sacrifice good times, pleasure and escapism for the goal, it’s really possible,” he said. “There is no halfway point.”

Entertainment

Steven Soderbergh To Help Finish ‘The Batman Part II’ Production

EXCLUSIVE: As director Matt Reeves continues to attend to an ongoing family matter, Steven Soderbergh is coming on to help finish principal photography for the final weeks of DC Studios’ The Batman Part II. The news comes after production was paused on the film so that Reeves could focus on the personal matter.
Soderbergh has been longtime admirer of Reeves work, and with Reeves unable to be on set, the Oscar-winning director offered to help with finishing principal photography on the film. Although Reeves is unable to be on set, the two will work together and remain in communication until filming has ended, with Reeves taking over post-production duties when he is ready to return.
The studio released a statement in regards to Soderbergh coming on to the production:
“As Matt Reeves continues to attend to an ongoing family matter, Steven Soderbergh, as an admirer of Matt’s work, approached Matt and will step in, with the full support of DC Studios, to help the writer-director complete the final weeks of principal photography on The Batman Part 2. Matt and Steven will work closely together with the actors and crew to fulfill Matt’s vision of the film.”
Soderbergh also released a statement:
“I thought Matt Reeves’ work on The Batman was stunning; it was intentional, specific, and rigorously coherent. The goal here is to work with Matt and his team to generate footage that will integrate seamlessly with what’s already been shot so Matt can properly finish his film.”
Deadline first broke the news earlier this month that production would be paused while Reeves attended to a family matter. Prior to the pause, filming had been underway in London. The film is set to bow on February 18, 2028. Sources say it is too early to say whether the stoppage will have an effect on the release date.
The cast has Robert Pattinson, Andy Serkis and Colin Farrell returning respectively as Batman, Alfred and Penguin, with new additions Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Brian Tyree Henry, Jayme Lawson, Charles Dance, Gil Perez-Abraham and Sebastian Koch.

Entertainment

Netflix’s Bela Bajaria Leaving After 10 Years Amid Layoffs

In a major executive shakeup, Bela Bajaria is out at Netflix after 10 years at the streamer, most recently serving as its chief content officer.
She will be replaced by former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice, as first reported by Puck. As chief content officer, Rice will lead Netflix’s global content organization, overseeing scripted and unscripted series, film, live events and more across all regions.
Bajaria’s exit comes amid a significant workforce reduction at Netflix. Around 1,000 employees (6% of the company) were laid off this week in what marks the streamer’s largest axing to date. Netflix‘s film VP Doug Belgrad and film director Sheroum Kim were also pink slipped as part of the restructuring.
“I want to thank Bela for a decade of dedication, innovation, creativity and leadership,” Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, said in a statement. “She led enormous changes at Netflix. She helped broaden our content offering to include the large-scale expansion of unscripted programming and the launches of live events and sports, in addition to crafting and running a world class, global slate of films and series. I’m incredibly grateful for everything she’s done to help Netflix entertain the world.”
Bajaria joined Netflix in 2016 after she was let go from NBCUniversal, where she had served as president of Universal Television. In that role, she had produced shows that aired on Netflix, including “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Master of None.” Sarandos first brought in Bajaria to help Netflix launch an unscripted division, as well as licensing and studio co-productions. Bajaria was later elevated to head of global in 2020 as Cindy Holland exited the company, and was named chief content officer in January 2023.
Under her watch, Bajaria oversaw popular TV series including “Bridgerton,” “Squid Game,” “Adolescence,” “Beef,” “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday,” and films such as “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Frankenstein.” She also pushed Netflix into more live sports and events like “The Roast of Tom Brady” and deals with the NFL and WWE.
But in recent months, as Netflix growth has slowed, so too has the aura around its original programming. The streamer won just 16 Primetime Emmy awards this year — down from 30 in 2025 and quite a distance from 2021, when it tied the record for most Emmys won by an outlet in a single year, with 44. All told, 2026 was Netflix’s lowest Primetime Emmy haul since 2016.
“I know this is a big change in a year that has already had its share,” Sarandos wrote in a memo to staff. “But I also see an opportunity to take our slate to the next level, especially in UCAN [United States and Canada] where we have an outsize impact in creating big, buzzy hits that our members love and drive conversation around the world.
Rice’s own ousting at Disney in 2022, by then-CEO Bob Chapek, was a huge shock to the industry given his stature at the company. A well-regarded executive with strong talent relations, Rice was most recently chairman of Walt Disney Television and chairman of general entertainment for the Walt Disney Company. There he oversaw ABC, FOX Broadcasting, Fox Sports, ABC News, ABC Studios, Disney Channel, Freeform, FX Networks, Hulu, National Geographic, Onyx Collective, Disney Television and Twentieth Century Fox Television, with more than 300 shows and 4,000 hours of television a year. Programs during his tenure included “The Simpsons,” “American Idol,” “Modern Family,” “This Is Us,” “The Bear,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Shogun” and “Only Murders in the Building,” along with ABC News programming and sporting events such as the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and FIFA World Cup Finals.
Since he was let go from Disney, Rice worked as a producer on movies such as Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” “28 Years Later” and “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” at Sony, as well as “Warfare” and Chris Rock’s “Misty Green” at A24. He is currently producing Alex Garland’s “Elden Ring” and Sonoya Mizuno’s “Stages,” as well as as well as the opening and closing ceremonies for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Earlier in his career, Rice was president of 21st Century Fox and CEO of Fox Networks Group, and Fox’s lead executive on the Hulu board. He also worked at Fox Searchlight Pictures and worked on indie favorites like “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Juno,” “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Sideways.”
“Peter is one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry. His business acumen is sharp, his talent relationships are exceptionally strong, and his experience across TV and film is deep and broad,” Sarandos said. “He understands what makes stories resonate, and he’s spent his career helping talent do the best work of their lives. I’m excited to welcome him to Netflix as chief content officer as we continue to scale and deliver members more of the stories they love.”
Added Rice, “Netflix has fundamentally changed the way stories are made, shared and experienced around the world. They’ve shown again and again that they’re willing to take chances on distinctive voices and fresh ideas, and I’m excited to work with the team to help bring even more great stories to members everywhere.”
Mike Schneider contributed to this report.

Entertainment

Violet & Xaden Have Been Cast In Prime Video’s ‘Fourth Wing’ TV Show

Lightning strikes as Prime Video has found its leading stars for the upcoming TV series Fourth Wing, the small-screen adaptation of Rebecca Yarros’ bestselling novel of the same name, from showrunner and EP Meredith Averill.
Esther McGregor (We Were Liars, Babygirl) has been cast as Violet Sorrengail, and Emilio Sakraya (Those About To Die, Warrior Nun) will bring to life the character of Xaden Riorson, sources close to production tell Deadline. Violet and Xaden are enemies-turned-lovers in the books.
Amazon declined to comment.
In the fantasy adventure, Violet is forced by her mother to enter the brutal world of Basgiath War College. She joins hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of the country of Navarre: dragon riders.
In the book, 20-year-old Violet feels well on her way to becoming a Scribe (historian), following in the footsteps of her father, Asher, when her mother, General Lilith Sorrengail, makes her switch paths and become a dragon rider.
Far from the safety of the Archives where Scribes record the history of Navarre and keep records, Violet walks the parapet to bond with a dragon and undertake the very dangerous and highly fatal occupation. There, she encounters Xaden Riorson, a descendant of a rebellious sect of the population and a generally mysterious, brooding cadet with shadow-wielding powers. The one rule of Basgiath War College is “graduate or die.” Riders without their dragons are as good as dead, and vice versa, which stresses the bond between human and beast formed on Threshing Day.
Amazon MGM Studios snapped up the rights to the Empyrean book series for TV development in 2023, but it wasn’t picked up until this May when the streamer officially greenlit the series. Averill officially joined the series as showrunner and executive producer in September 2025. The greenlight included Lisa Joy as director of the series premiere and executive producer.
The plan is, if successful, to adapt the rest of the novels over multiple seasons. The Empyrean book series consists of five books, with Fourth Wing (2023), Iron Flame (2023), and Onyx Storm (2025) as the first three titles. Yarros is currently working on a fourth novel, which is as yet untitled, and a fifth will follow. She recently released a companion book of 13 short stories written from the point of view of dragon riders focusing on when they met their dragons, titled Threshing Day. It’s as-yet-unknown whether the new book will be included in the series, but it would make sense to feature some or all of the moments.
The series comes from Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society, Jonathan Nolan and Joy’s Kilter Films and Premeditated Productions. Jordan and Elizabeth Raposo executive produce via Outlier Society; Nolan, Joy, and Athena Wickham via Kilter Films; Liz Pelletier and Sherryl Clark via Premeditated Productions.
McGregor is currently shooting Life Is Strange for Prime Video, based on the video game. She also recently starred in the television adaptation of E. Lockhart’s best-selling novel, We Were Liars, for Prime Video. Her film credits include Babygirl and Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door. She previously starred with her father, Ewan McGregor, and sister, Clara McGregor, in the 2023 SXSW world premiere of Bleeding Love. On the TV side, she also appeared in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Sakraya’s schedule is also booked and busy, having recently completed work starring in the hit Netflix series One Piece‘s upcoming third season. In a recurring role, he will portray the character of Koza, leader of the rebel army. Among Fourth Wing fans, Sakraya was a top choice for the role of Xaden Riorson. His prior credits include the Peacock series Those About to Die, the mixed martial arts feature Sixty Minutes, the Netflix series Tribes of Europa, and Warrior Nun, also for the streamer.

Entertainment

Disney Inks Dude Perfect to Deal for Original Content

The Walt Disney Co. is cutting another major creator deal, this time with the prolific sports-focused Dude Perfect, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The deal, which the company is framing as a “company-wide creative partnership,” will span entertainment sports, consumer products and experiences.
Like Disney’s other creator deals, it will see some Dude Perfect content come to Disney+, including some of the group’s short-form library content. But it will also see the group create original content for its platforms and channels inspired by Disney events, with Super Bowl LXI, the 50th anniversary of Star Wars, and Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday among the projects being highlighted.
Dude Perfect was founded in 2009 when Tyler Toney, Coby Cotton, Cory Cotton, Garrett Hilbert and Cody Jones were all students at Texas A&M and decided to start a trick shot YouTube channel. It has since grown into a fully-fledged studio, with an 80,000-square foot facility in Frisco, Texas, and a full slate of programming and brand deals.
Dude Perfect raised $100 million from Highmount Capital in 2024 to help it kickstart its growth, with Coby Cotton telling THR at the time that they wanted to push further into live events and products, two areas that Disney happens to have particular expertise in.
Disney, meanwhile, has inked deals with creators like Dhar Mann and Like Nastya as it seeks to push further into that ecosystem. It also has a deal with TikTok that will bring some short-form content to Disney+.
Dude Perfect and Disney have worked together in the past, with the creators publishing videos like “Going to Every Disney Park in 75 Hours,” but the new deal significantly builds on that relationship.
“Disney has always been a place where great storytellers come to create, and Dude Perfect brings a distinctive voice and an inventive approach to everything they do,” said Asad Ayaz, Disney’s chief marketing and brand officer, in a statement. “By building on our longstanding relationship, we’re able to give fans even more ways to experience and be part of the Disney stories they love.”
“We’ve been Disney kids forever, from wearing out the VHS tape of The Lion King to making core memories as a family at Disney World,” added Dude Perfect co-founder Garrett Hilbert. “Disney taught us to go big and dream, and that has shaped everything we’ve built. Now, we get to make more of those dreams come to life with the Disney team, and we can’t wait to bring our fans along for the ride.”

Entertainment

Brendan Fraser Sequel Gets New Title Ahead of 2027 Release

Brendan Fraser‘s forthcoming installment in Universal Pictures‘ popular The Mummy franchise is alive and well.
The studio announced Thursday that the new movie will be titled The Mummy: Book of the Dead. Radio Silence duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are set to direct the film from a script by David Coggeshall (The Family Plan). It hits theaters Oct. 15, 2027, exactly a year after the title announcement.
Fraser returns as Rick O’Connell alongside Rachel Weisz as Evie O’Connell. John Hannah, Michael Johnston, Numan Acar, Kevin J. O’Connor and Oded Fehr round out the cast.
The classic Universal monster property first sprang to life with Boris Karloff in the titular role of the 1932 feature The Mummy. After a number of offerings over the decades, Fraser and Weisz’s franchise kicked off with the Stephen Sommers-helmed 1999 version of the same name.
Producers include Sean Daniel, who has produced five previous titles in the franchise, alongside William Sherak, James Vanderbilt and Paul Neinstein for Project X Entertainment. Clayton Townsend also produces, while Fraser and Hivemind’s Jason F. Brown serve as executive producers.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, who helmed 2022’s franchise-reviving Scream and follow-up Scream VI, most recently directed this year’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.
The Mummy: Book of the Dead is a direct sequel to 1999’s The Mummy and 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns. The franchise also includes 2008’s poorly received The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which was followed by 2017’s Tom Cruise-led The Mummy reboot. The 1999 movie spawned the 2002 spinoff feature The Scorpion King, marking Dwayne Johnson’s first lead film role.
For the 25th anniversary of 1999’s The Mummy, director Sommers told The Hollywood Reporter that he continues to be pleased with the film’s lasting cultural impact. The franchise’s five theatrical features that began with the 1999 offering have surpassed $1.8 billion at the global box office. The 1999 movie centered on treasure hunter Rick heading out on an adventure with Evie and her brother, Jonathan (Hannah), where they accidentally awaken a mummy.
“It’s so funny how it just never went away,” said Sommers, who also helmed The Mummy Returns. “It’s always on TV somewhere. And I know, especially because the residual checks are great. I hate to say it, but somehow, it’s endeared itself to a lot of people.”