TIFF48: Sylvester Stallone doc ‘Sly’ to Close 2023 Toronto International Film Festival

TIFF announced Tuesday morning that Sly, a new Netflix documentary about actor, writer, director, and producer Sylvester Stallone, will be the Closing Night Gala for the 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, September 16, at Roy Thomson Hall.

“Stallone’s story is one of perseverance, triumph, and his indelible mark left on the world of film, and we couldn’t be more honoured to share it with our audiences as our Closing Night film,” said TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey. “Celebrating the legacy of a true icon, Sly takes audiences on an intimate journey through the life of Stallone, a cultural touchstone whose impact on cinema spans nearly half a century. Sly offers an unexpected and heartfelt exploration of the man behind the action megastar.”

Directed by Thom Zimny (Springsteen on Broadway, Elvis Presley: The Searcher), Sly is an intimate look at the early life of the action megastar as well as a reflection on his career that spans nearly 50 years.

Sylvester Stallone gained international acclaim with his portrayal of Rocky and Rambo, with both projects becoming highly successful franchises over multiple decades. Through the 80s and 90s and beyond he became one of Hollywood’s most bankable movie stars with hits like Demolition Man, Cliffhanger, Escape Plan, The Expendables, and Creed, which earned him an Academy Award nomination in 2016. He currently stars in the Paramount+ hit series Tulsa King, which has been renewed for a second season and on the silver screen he’ll have the fourth in the Expendables series, Expend4bles, on September 22.

The film is produced by Sean Stuart, and executive produced by Braden Aftergood, Bill Zanker, Sam Delcanto, Jon Beyer, Tom Forman, Jenny Daly, and Stallone.

Sly joins the previously announced lineup that includes Hayao Miyzaki’s The Boy and the Heron as the TIFF Opening Night selection, Pain Hustlers, Dumb Money, Next Goal Wins and more.

Photo: . Rob DeMartin/Netflix

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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