Another movie has quietly resumed filming following the industry-wide shutdown that Hollywood suffered this year. Samaritan, a new superhero movie starring Sylvester Stallone, has started production again over the last couple of weeks. The news was revealed by Stallone personally in a series of Instagram posts, with the actor sharing several photos from the set. This means there is still a chance, albeit a very slim one, that this movie could still hit theaters on time. But don’t hold your breath on that one.
Sylvester Stallone shared his first post from the set two weeks ago saying, “Samaritan is resuming filming!” The post features an image of his character beating up several people in an alleyway. A different post from several days ago sees the actor in the makeup chair, getting scars and burns applied to his face. The most recent update features a zoomed-in look at his character, who is rocking a beard and a mean grimace. Stallone had this to say.
“Filming is going absolutely great!!! Samaritan.”
Samaritan centers on a young boy (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton). He is in search of a mythic superhero who vanished 20 years ago after a tragic event. In another post, Sylvester Stallone shared an image of himself also bearded and largely hidden under a coat with a crumbling cityscape in the background. In that same post, another image sees a young boy standing in front of a graffitied wall with Sly’s face on it. They, more or less, look like unofficial posters for the movie. Stallone shared this post with the following caption.
“A special kind of movie Super Hero is heading your way!”
Julius Avery, who directed the J.J. Abrams-produced zombie flick Overlord, is at the helm. Avery is working from an original story by Bragi F. Schut, who penned the horror hit Escape Room. Schut also worked on the screenplay, with Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), Zak Penn (Ready Player One) and Chuck MacLean (City on a Hill) also contributing. The cast also includes Martin Starr (Silicon Valley), Pilou Asb&æk (Game of Thrones), Dascha Polanco (Orange of the New Black) Moises Arias (Five Feet Apart).
Sylvester Stallone is managing to stay quite busy these days. The actor starred in Rambo: Last Blood last year and also reprised the role for Mortal Kombat 11, with the game bringing the action hero in via some new DLC. Stallone has also been working on a director’s cut of Rocky IV. Though it remains to be seen if he will reprise the role on screen, be it in Creed 3 or another project.
Filming originally halted on Samaritan back in March. It is unclear how much still needs to be shot, not to mention post-production. At present, the movie is dated for December 11. Even outside of doubts that the filmmakers could finish it on time, most major releases have delayed as uncertainty looms at the box office. So we should probably expect MGM to follow that same route in this case. Be sure to check out the photos from Sylvester Stallone’s Instagram.
