We spoke to actor Frank Grillo on the day his new action-thriller Long Gone Heroes was released. It’s set in Venezuela and includes a stacked cast alongside the household name that is Grillo, such as Andy Garcia, Oscar-winner Melissa Leo, and real-life pal Mekhi Phifer. Over the years, Grillo has worked with a plethora of other acclaimed performers and filmmakers, and he’ll even be featured in the upcoming season of Tulsa King. In our last conversation with Grillo, we asked him which action star he’d love to work with, and his answer was Sylvester Stallone. And now, here we are.
“It’s funny, I remember that, I remember you asking me that,” Grillo told us. “I’ve known Sly a long time, and then he called me, and it was like, ‘Wow, that’s, this is weird. Like, is the universe really listening?’ You know, I had such a great time shooting the season with him, and it ends in a bang. And yeah, I’m excited.”
Judging by our latest chat with Grillo, it sounds like the show’s upcoming season has some juicy developments in store for his character:
“It’s that classic kind of, you know, [Sly’s character is] someplace that belongs to me, and he’s there without my permission. And when I come to ask for what’s mine… you know, the rest of it ensues. And
it starts out where we’re so adversarial, and it goes in another direction, and that’s what I loved about it.
I got to do some great stuff with [Sly] and got even closer to him. And who knows, maybe we’ll be back for
Tulsa
season 3.”
‘The Bad Guy Stuff’s Always Fun’
Grillo also dished on the perks of working with Stallone, saying, “He’s a special guy, and there’s no accident that he’s Sylvester Stallone. At his age… he comes to play, man, and you better know what you’re doing on his set. You better know what you’re doing, not just, like, know your lines, but you better know what you’re doing… And I got to go head-to-head.” He continued:
“After the whole reality that there’s the man, you know, there’s Rocky, there’s Rambo,
it was like, ‘No, now you’re just another actor. Here we go.’ And he loves that and he respects it
. And he’s amazing. I mean, he’s probably one of the most beloved actors I’ve ever worked with.”
In the meantime, moviegoers can enjoy seeing Grillo take names in Long Gone Heroes opposite Mekhi Phifer, both of whom also starred in Lights Out earlier this year. This time around, they aren’t exactly playing allies on the big screen. “The bad guy stuff’s always fun, and the fighting was great,” said Grillo about his Long Gone Heroes moments alongside Phifer. “It was one of my favorite parts of doing the movie. But I loved the buddy thing in Lights Out… And I have talked about if we could find something to explore that relationship, those two guys again, we’re going to do it.”
From Lionsgate, Long Gone Heroes is now available in theaters, on-demand, and on digital.