Ep488 - Thom Zimny, Director Netflix's Sylvester Stallone Documentary ‘Sly’

“What led me into filmmaking was being in the world and being dyslexic,” said documentarian Thom Zimny, who got into music and then editing before becoming a filmmaker.

Zimny is known for his work as a music video director with Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. He’s the Director of Elvis Presley: The Searcher, The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson & Family, and now Sly.

Sly follows “the nearly fifty year prolific career of Sylvester Stallone, who has entertained millions, is seen in retrospective in an intimate look of the actor, writer, director-producer, paralleling with his inspirational life story.”

In this interview, we talk about shifting from editor to director, not telling Sly in a linear fashion, not forcing a POV, themes of fathers and sons, themes that had not been overanalyzed, avoiding short-hand versions of history, and what Sly taught him about ambition.

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