Sylvester Stallone and Taylor Sheridan are two big personalities and two brilliant creatives. That kind of dynamic can often lead to great things, or a clash of ideas.
But thankfully, the pair have figured out an ideal working relationship that helps to make Tulsa King tick.
After carving out his own cowboy kingdom on Paramount with Yellowstone and its various spin-offs, the Taylor Sheridan universe expanded onto the streets with Tulsa King.
Stallone plays leading man Dwight 'The General' Manfredi in the crime drama, and it's safe to say he matches Sheridan's energy perfectly on-screen.
Ahead of the release of Tulsa King season 4, Stallone spoke to Radio Times about his relationship with Sheridan and shared an interesting connection between the duo.
View Green Video on the source website"It’s a very unique relationship Taylor and I have," Stallone said. "I actually used to know him before he was even a writer. He was riding horses in California, where I had some horses. Little did I know we would cross paths. You just never know."
As for the creative dynamic behind the scenes on Tulsa King, Stallone revealed he has a big hand in shaping the character of Dwight and that the other writers – Sheridan included – very much leave him to his own devices.
"Taylor writes a certain way. I happen to write for myself very well. We have this arrangement where I write my dialogue, and Terry Winter writes the rest of the dialogue for the other people," Stallone explained.
"Taylor kind of lets the show take its own personality and its own course – he certainly has his hands full with everything else."
Naturally, multiple writers working on different areas of a script could cause friction, but Stallone, Winter and co. have got the process nailed, it seems.
"The thing is, you don’t want to neuter other people and step on their territory and their domain," he added. "Everything that I’m in and with other characters, there has to be a rhythm. Sometimes, writers aren’t actors, and sometimes they’ll write things and you’re like, 'Why don’t you try and say that?' So I will smooth things out when I need to, and it works really well."
Interestingly, Stallone has big ideas for how Dwight’s journey should end, telling us he really doesn’t want his character to bite the dust. Whether he will get that wish or not remains to be seen, but Tulsa King season 5 is happening, at least, so we might just find out soon enough.
Tulsa King season 4 is available to watch on Paramount+. You can sign up to Paramount+ for a seven-day free trial.
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