Letter from Sylvester Stallone
Frank Sasso did me a favor once.
He took the time to watch Sly and wrote about it with honesty, heart, and an understanding of what it's like to spend your whole life chasing a story that's bigger than yourself. So when Frank asked the ASC to take a look at Legends, I figured, Why not return the favor?
Here's the thing.
Everybody's going to tell you Frank wrote Legends.
That's true, but it's not the whole story. The vision, the spark, the universe itself, that's all his friend and partner DR Vickery. This world came out of his imagination. Valdoria, the Legends, the mythology; that foundation belongs to DR. You can feel that kind of ownership on every page.
Then you've got Will Foskey.
Every great story needs somebody asking, "Why should we care?" That's Will. Character development. Emotional arcs. Relationships. The stuff that turns cool ideas into people you actually root for. That's the heartbeat of the story.
And then there's Frank.
Frank's the guy who looked at this incredible world and said, "Wait a second... what if we build this differently?"
Most people write a novel, then they adapt it into a screenplay, then maybe somebody makes a comic.
Frank flipped the whole thing upside down.
Each chapter of what I read, the novel, is essentially one of six parts or volumes. Read a chapter, you've read an issue. Read the book, you've experienced an entire 12 month comic series. But here's the part that really got me...
That comic series also functions as a storyboard for an animated feature.
Now that's thinking.
You're creating a novel, a comic book series, and the visual blueprint for a movie... all at the same time.
That's not just creative, that's genius. As somebody who's rewritten movies until the pages practically caught fire, I appreciate someone who's rethinking the process instead of just repeating it. The action moves, the humor lands, and the characters have real chemistry.
Oslow carries the weight of experience without saying much. Jett and Rocco have that competitive friendship that reminds you why buddy adventures work in the first place. The world feels lived in instead of invented five minutes ago.
What I also admire about Frank has nothing to do with Legends.
Month after month, he contributes thoughtful articles to the American Society of Cinematographers. They're insightful, they're practical, and they're written by somebody who genuinely loves this industry. But every now and then he'll slip something else into those articles.
His faith, not with a hammer, not by preaching, just naturally. A sentence here. A perspective there. A reminder that talent is a gift and that stories can point people toward something bigger than themselves. That's a pretty smart way to share what you believe without ever losing the audience.
I respect that.
Frank is talented, funny, generous. He's a man of faith.
And like me, Frank Sasso is from New York (back when New York was NEW YORK) and Frank...
...is Italian.
Trust me. I know my people. When Italians get excited about telling stories, they don't just tell one.
They build a whole neighborhood.
So congratulations to Darren for dreaming this world into existence...
To Will for giving these characters hearts that actually beat...
And to Frank for finding a way to transform all of it into something that doesn't just read like a story, it already feels like a movie waiting to happen. That's a rare combination and I can't wait to see where Legends goes next.
He took the time to watch Sly and wrote about it with honesty, heart, and an understanding of what it's like to spend your whole life chasing a story that's bigger than yourself. So when Frank asked the ASC to take a look at Legends, I figured, Why not return the favor?
Here's the thing.
Everybody's going to tell you Frank wrote Legends.
That's true, but it's not the whole story. The vision, the spark, the universe itself, that's all his friend and partner DR Vickery. This world came out of his imagination. Valdoria, the Legends, the mythology; that foundation belongs to DR. You can feel that kind of ownership on every page.
Then you've got Will Foskey.
Every great story needs somebody asking, "Why should we care?" That's Will. Character development. Emotional arcs. Relationships. The stuff that turns cool ideas into people you actually root for. That's the heartbeat of the story.
And then there's Frank.
Frank's the guy who looked at this incredible world and said, "Wait a second... what if we build this differently?"
Most people write a novel, then they adapt it into a screenplay, then maybe somebody makes a comic.
Frank flipped the whole thing upside down.
Each chapter of what I read, the novel, is essentially one of six parts or volumes. Read a chapter, you've read an issue. Read the book, you've experienced an entire 12 month comic series. But here's the part that really got me...
That comic series also functions as a storyboard for an animated feature.
Now that's thinking.
You're creating a novel, a comic book series, and the visual blueprint for a movie... all at the same time.
That's not just creative, that's genius. As somebody who's rewritten movies until the pages practically caught fire, I appreciate someone who's rethinking the process instead of just repeating it. The action moves, the humor lands, and the characters have real chemistry.
Oslow carries the weight of experience without saying much. Jett and Rocco have that competitive friendship that reminds you why buddy adventures work in the first place. The world feels lived in instead of invented five minutes ago.
What I also admire about Frank has nothing to do with Legends.
Month after month, he contributes thoughtful articles to the American Society of Cinematographers. They're insightful, they're practical, and they're written by somebody who genuinely loves this industry. But every now and then he'll slip something else into those articles.
His faith, not with a hammer, not by preaching, just naturally. A sentence here. A perspective there. A reminder that talent is a gift and that stories can point people toward something bigger than themselves. That's a pretty smart way to share what you believe without ever losing the audience.
I respect that.
Frank is talented, funny, generous. He's a man of faith.
And like me, Frank Sasso is from New York (back when New York was NEW YORK) and Frank...
...is Italian.
Trust me. I know my people. When Italians get excited about telling stories, they don't just tell one.
They build a whole neighborhood.
So congratulations to Darren for dreaming this world into existence...
To Will for giving these characters hearts that actually beat...
And to Frank for finding a way to transform all of it into something that doesn't just read like a story, it already feels like a movie waiting to happen. That's a rare combination and I can't wait to see where Legends goes next.
