Sylvester Stallone has lined up his first directorial gig since 2010’s The Expendables. According to , the action superstar will be bringing Tough As They Come, the true story of Afghanistan veteran Staff Sargent Travis Mills, to the silver screen. Mills returned from duty a quadruple amputee due to injuries he sustained on the battlefield. His perseverance during his recovery ultimately allowed him to take back his life and serve as an inspiration to others.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Adam Driver will portray Mills, with Stallone playing his supportive father-in-law. There is no word at this time as to who is penning the script. Deadline reports that Fox is supposedly interested in picking up the project, but it does not yet have an official studio home at this time. Given how well he’s handled drama in the early (and more recent) Rocky films and the horrors of war in the first (and last) Rambo outing, I’d say this falls well within Stallone’s wheelhouse.
Stallone has a busy year or two ahead of him, so it’s hard to say exactly how soon this project might come to fruition. The actor will next been seen in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 this May and has a voice role in the upcoming animated feature, Animal Crackers. He also has at least three additional projects set to lens sometime this year. Those include Sly appearing as the antagonist in Olivier Assayas’ Idol’s Eye, a supporting turn in Escape Plan 2, and a starring role in The Expendables 4.
If those projects weren’t enough, Stallone still has a myriad of others in various stages of production. There’s his Omerta television series, based on the novel by Mario Puzo. There’s an as-yet-undisclosed project for STX Entertainment. Also, lest we forget, he is still expected to return for a sequel to 2015’s Rocky spin-off, Creed. That follow-up appears to be on the backburner until director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan have completed work on Marvel’s Black Panther. Regardless, it will undoubtedly be vying with Tough As They Come for Sly’s attention in the near future.
