Stallone’s next film loses its director, will Sly step in?

Back in February it was announced that Sylvester Stallone would star in HEADSHOT, a cop drama for director Wayne Kramer. It was notable mainly because Stallone hasn’t worked for a director other than himself since 2003’s SHADE (which I’m not even sure anyone ever saw). Kramer had directed actors to Oscar nominations before (Alec Baldwin in THE COOLER) and the script was from an Oscar-nominee (Alessandro Camon, THE MESSENGER), all signs Stallone wasn’t going to be turning in his usual action-heavy, shoot-em-up fare.

But now comes word that Kramer has left HEADSHOT after clashing with Stallone over the direction of the film. What exactly the conflict was remains to be seen but I’m guessing Stallone wanted this to be a Stallone movie, while Kramer wanted it to be a movie with Sylvester Stallone in it. It’s kind of strange that Kramer brought Stallone aboard only to have the actor survive while the director gets kicked to the curb, but Stallone is the one who can get the financing for the project.

So now the question is whether Stallone will just step in and direct the film himself. As mentioned earlier, he hasn’t worked with an outside director in almost 10 years and nobody knows what Stallone wants better than himself. The film is a story of two NYPD detectives who track a case from the streets to Washington, DC. It doesn’t sound like typical Stallone, which is why I was excited to see him stretch his wings and work with a talented director. If it becomes just another Stallone movie, I’m not sure I’m all that interested anymore…