February 20th, 2007, 08:06
On way to Thailand, 'Rocky' raided
"Sydney (dpa) - Australian Customs officers raided Hollywood tough-guy Sylvester Stallone's Sydney hotel room in a continuing investigation into what the star of the Rocky Balboa boxing film told reporters he had "taken for years," news reports said Tuesday. Stallone left Australia for Thailand, where he will begin filming Rambo IV.
Members of the 60-year-old Stallone's entourage were seen throwing items out of the hotel window Monday afternoon as officers entered the harbour-side Park Hyatt Hotel to issue a summons relating to prohibited substances, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Stallone, who arrived Friday in Sydney to attend the local premiere of the sixth instalment of the Rocky series, was allowed to leave Australia after his private jet was searched.
The drama began Friday at Sydney Airport with the confiscation of several banned items that Customs officers found in Stallone's luggage. Customs kept him at the airport for about two hours, after routine x-rays of luggage revealed several prohibited items. Customs would not confirm reports that bodybuilding drugs banned in Australia but legal elsewhere in the world were involved.
Stallone, who wrote, directed and acted in Rocky Balboa, refused reporters' requests to identify the substances other than to say "it's something I've taken for years" and "it's not dangerous." The first Rocky film came out in 1976, and Rocky Balboa is the first since 1990. Praised by film critics as the best Rocky film since the Oscar-winning first instalment, Rocky takes to the ring against a heavyweight champion half his age. "Around 1996-97 I could see the writing on the wall," Stallone told reporters. "Things weren't going well, and I thought 'Boy, as my career's winding down, if there's one thing I could fix, it would have been Rocky, because I knew Rocky V missed the mark.'"
Bangkok Post
"Sydney (dpa) - Australian Customs officers raided Hollywood tough-guy Sylvester Stallone's Sydney hotel room in a continuing investigation into what the star of the Rocky Balboa boxing film told reporters he had "taken for years," news reports said Tuesday. Stallone left Australia for Thailand, where he will begin filming Rambo IV.
Members of the 60-year-old Stallone's entourage were seen throwing items out of the hotel window Monday afternoon as officers entered the harbour-side Park Hyatt Hotel to issue a summons relating to prohibited substances, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Stallone, who arrived Friday in Sydney to attend the local premiere of the sixth instalment of the Rocky series, was allowed to leave Australia after his private jet was searched.
The drama began Friday at Sydney Airport with the confiscation of several banned items that Customs officers found in Stallone's luggage. Customs kept him at the airport for about two hours, after routine x-rays of luggage revealed several prohibited items. Customs would not confirm reports that bodybuilding drugs banned in Australia but legal elsewhere in the world were involved.
Stallone, who wrote, directed and acted in Rocky Balboa, refused reporters' requests to identify the substances other than to say "it's something I've taken for years" and "it's not dangerous." The first Rocky film came out in 1976, and Rocky Balboa is the first since 1990. Praised by film critics as the best Rocky film since the Oscar-winning first instalment, Rocky takes to the ring against a heavyweight champion half his age. "Around 1996-97 I could see the writing on the wall," Stallone told reporters. "Things weren't going well, and I thought 'Boy, as my career's winding down, if there's one thing I could fix, it would have been Rocky, because I knew Rocky V missed the mark.'"
Bangkok Post