Stallone’s Poe script

Last Updated on July 27, 2021

Sylvester Stallone is a beast right now. Seems like the guy is everywhere. From being involved with politics, to endorsing steroids, to some badass flick called RAMBO.. you might have heard of it?

Well Stallone’s got a few other flicks on his plate. Not too long ago it was announced that Sly was set for two more action pics. And just last week the news that he’s been working on a script for the fifth RAMBO was dropped. Well today we’ve got some word on another of Stallone’s projects… the long awaited Edgar Allen Poe film.

Spanish site AhoraHollywood recently scored the script to Stallone’s Edgar Allen Poe bio-epic. They posted their review on it. You can see that over here… except it’s in Spanish. So I’ve posted the translation for it below. The review is hugely postivie and definately sounds good to me. Let’s hope this one gets made sometime soon. Read on for the review.

“AhoraHollywood.com has had access to the juicy script written by Sylvester Stallone in 2003 about the so famous American writer Edgar Allan Poe.

As one of Poe’s fans, I wasn’t prepared to a such pleasant reading. From the beginning, I felt trapped in this script that tells, in 120 pages, a biography of the writer without falling into something typical. I just couldn’t take my eyes from the screen of my computer, reading this story full of tragedy and obscurity that surround the character.

The script begins in the present day, with a hodded figure that approaches Poe’s tomb to leave a half empty bottle of cognac. This other hooded figure appears, though this time we are in 1833. Is it the same? Who is he? I’ll let you guess…

Poe’s story begins when he is thrown out of West Point Academy. Young Eddie doesn’t fit in. This treatment of Eddie made me think of young master Will of Shakespeare in Love. But there’s a difference, as the latter’s a comedy, and Stallone shows the heavy atmosphere that filled Poe’s life. This atmosphere made me think of the gloomy scenery of Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton, and the general feeling of pessimism of Jude the Obscure of Michael Winterbottom. But we can perceive a certain hope in the words of the characters.

From the beginning, Poe is introduced as a writer that didn’t fit in his own time. As we keep on reading, Stallone shows this “wasted soul” whose family seems abandoned by God. And this life full of a mixture of bad luck and tragedy is what inspires the writer thanks to the troubling and ghostly images that haunt his mind. We are witnesses of all his misfortunes entangled with poverty, drugs and fight for social recognition.

What I found really original is this way Stallone has of introducing Poe into his world of imagination. Sometimes I had the feeling that the two worlds, the real and the imaginary, were melting to become one. We can see Poe in a room in his house, and suddenly he is next to Roderick Usher having a conversation. And Stallone introduces with subtlety extracts of Poe’s works that fit marvelously with what’s happening in Poe’s life. We find, to everyone’s delight, extracts from short stories like The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, or The Pit and the Pendulum, and of poems like Annabelle Lee or The Raven.

For me, who had an image of Stallone as a rough guy, all muscles (and little brains), it was a wonderful surprise to see this intelligent side, as it takes a lot of courage and wit to write such a script. With a good director to take it to big screen, I think all those who admire Poe, me included, won’t be deceived at all.”