After Russell Crowe’s story about his brutal injury on the sets of Robin Hood, Sylvester Stallone has now revealed how he sustained an even brutal spine injury while working in The Expendables. Stallone made this revelation on his reality television show, The Family Stallone, which also stars his wife, Jennifer Flavin, and three daughters. The injury occurred during a botched stunt where he was tackled by none other than WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin.
While Crowe and Stallone’s revelations show the extent to which actors were willing to go to entertain their audience, a few feel that bragging about recklessness is not the way to go about it. It was not the first instance where Sylvester Stallone risked a life-threatening injury on a movie set.
Sylvester Stallone Reveals His Spinal Injury On The Set Of The Expendables
The second season of The Family Stallone premiered on February 21, 2024, and in the latest episode, Sylvester Stallone shared one interesting set story from The Expendables. Around one minute and fifty seconds into the trailer of the film, available on YouTube, fans can watch former WWE wrestler Steve Austin tackling Stallone’s Barney Ross. The stunt injured the Rambo star badly and he was left with dislocated shoulders and a fractured neck.
Stallone underwent seven back surgeries since the injury occurred but he revealed on the show that he never fully recovered from that incident. He needed a metal plate inserted into his neck and spinal fusions as a direct result of the injury. The Rocky star admitted that what he did was stupid on the reality show. He revealed that he would now warn actors not to do their own stunts since he was never physically the same after the injury. Stallone shared on The Family Stallone:
“I did stupid stuff. I was directing Expendables and, like an idiot, I’m doing take 10, take whatever, and I remember one slam and I could actually feel one bang. I never recovered from [Expendables]. After that film, it was never physically the same. So I warn people, ‘Don’t do your own stunts.'”
The Tulsa King actor’s “stupid” mistake was a hard and “scary time” for the Stallone family as well. Jennifer Flavin, his wife, revealed on the show that each time he goes into surgery, she hopes that it would be the “one to help him live a more comfortable life”. Scarlet Stallone, his daughter, shared that her father was in pain her whole childhood but he pushed through it to be present in their lives.
Sylvester Stallone also spent time in the hospital almost fighting for his life when his Rocky IV co-star Dolph Lundgren delivered a punch straight to his chest. Just like Rocky Balboa in films, Stallone’s injuries were slowly catching up to him but he just pushed through them.
Russell Crowe Took A Decade To Realize He Had Broken His Legs
Russell Crowe reunited with Ridley Scott in the 2010 film Robin Hood, which was critically panned at the time of its release. The film required Crowe to engage in several stunt scenes, often ignoring the risks behind them. He revealed to PEOPLE that he had to jump off “a castle portcullis onto the rock-hard uneven ground.” The shot was supposed to involve several protective measures but the crew ignored them because they were “in a rush to get the shot done in the fading light.”
The Gladiator star felt something was wrong the minute he landed, but he “never discussed the injury with production, never took a day off because of it, I just kept going to work.” He didn’t realize the severity of the injury until he experienced strange pains in his lower legs almost a decade later. His MRI and X-ray results revealed that there were “remnants of fractures in both shin bones.”
Crowe also had a guess on how the injury healed itself during the time. He revealed that he took a long break after filming for the Ridley Scott film wrapped up in 2009. He also underwent intense physical training for his role in Man of Steel in 2013 and both these coincidences helped “things fix themselves”.
Both Sylvester Stallone and Russell Crowe suffered injuries that could have risked their health way worse. The Family Stallone is now available on Paramount+, while The Expendables movies are available for rent on AppleTV+. Scott’s Robin Hood is now available on AMC+.
