“I was dead set against it. I was horrified by the idea,” says Mangold, who would later go on to direct Oscar-winning films like ‘Walk the Line’ and ‘Girl, Interrupted.’ “He played a superhero so often. I didn’t want to make a movie about Judge Dredd.”

—–

Mangold graciously went to dinner with Stallone all the same and laid out his vision for the role.

“You have to let your body go. I mean let it go … gain at least 40 pounds” the director told the erstwhile Rocky Balboa.

‘He agreed immediately,” Mangold recalls. “He took the leap, and he delivered.”

Stallone’s sensitive performance in the tale of a New Jersey town teeming with dirty cops reminded us he’s more than just a slab of muscle for hire. The film, out this week in a Director’s Cut Blu-ray edition, also proved Mangold could handle a veteran cast led by Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta.

“I have a memory of being a young man with this ridiculously heady cast all around me… it’s like pretty big boots to be strapping on in your second movie,” he says. “It demystified working with really important actors.”

The film also taught him that his complete vision won’t always make it to the big screen.

The Blu-ray edition tacks on a few minor scenes cut for its theatrical release, including a moment where Stallone’s extra weight comes spilling out for all to see. The new version also trims away a few seconds he didn’t want in the film in the first place. The studio wanted to “wrap things up in a happy bow,” he says.

“It wasn’t the feel-good experience of the summer, so the cut got a little compromised,” he says.

“The movie was under so much pressure to be America’s next ‘Pulp Fiction.’ But it’s such a dark and sad tale, less jazzy and more of a kind of morality tale. It ends in a dark place,” he continues. “The star value got so high, and they wanted the grosses to be so high.”

Working with A-listers does come with a downside.

“When ‘Cop Land’ came out, a lot of daggers were out for Sly,” he recalls. “He had made a bunch of shittier moves, he’s the first to admit, that weren’t aimed for the highest result each time out.”

The ‘Cop Land’ Blu-ray includes a commentary track with Mangold, Stallone, co-star Robert Patrick and producer Cathy Konrad, as well as deleted scenes and a “making of” featurette. Mangold’s directorial career took off after the film’s release, veering from smart romantic comedies (‘Kate & Leopold’) to a celebrated look at the life of music icon Johnny Cash (‘Walk the  Line’). His next project finds him dabbling in Hollywood’s hottest genre – the  superhero epic.

‘The Wolverine’ casts Hugh Jackman once more as the hirsute hero with the adamantium claws. Mangold promises comic book fans the new film won’t resemble any they’ve seen before.

“In many ways what attracted me to this… it’s like the tentpole superhero movie is almost a cliché,” he says. “Hugh and I were most after making an original film.”

The superhero sequel will be based on the iconic Frank Miller series set in Japan.

“It takes place in an entirely different culture and fighting in entirely new ways,” says Mangold, who adds that he’ll be getting under the skin of the main character in ways past films couldn’t quite do.

“What’s it like to be immortal, to lose all the people you love and know you’ll keep on going? To have that kind of violence within you and turn it into good?” he asks before quickly assuring fans the film will still have some “kick-ass action.”

Mangold’s directorial career hasn’t always gone smoothly. Before his romantic comedy ‘Kate & Leopold’ reached the public, reporters were abuzz about the personal peccadilloes of the film’s leading lady, Meg Ryan. Last year, critics greeted Mangold’s action vehicle ‘Knight and Day’ with cynicism thanks, in part, to Tom Cruise’s fading star power.

The writer/director is learning to take it all in stride and trust what he puts up on the screen.

“It’s all about surviving the test of time in the end, not all about the opening weekend,” he says.

Creepy, right? I have not seen Haunting and will probably wait for DVD or pay cable, but that is a weird, startling, attention-grabbing image. As a movie junkie, I love good movie art. The best movie posters are evocative. They capture what a movie is all about without giving away the mystery. There are certain movie posters that instantly put me back in that theatre experiencing the film for the very first time. The best movie posters are not just promotional tools. They stand as a work of art on their own. These are my favorites, buit it is by no means a definitive list. Feel free to add your favorites (and subtract any of mine).

#1 – JAWS
I saw this all-time classic as a 9-year-old on opening day, and saw it a second time at the Saturday matinee. To this day, I am afraid to swim in the ocean. That shark is always there in my imagination. The poster is literal, but haunting.

#2 – CHINATOWN
This is truly a work of art. The smoke shrouding the ultimate mystery of Evelyn Mulwray, and the stylized version of Jake Gittes (played by Jack Nicholson), the hard-boiled detective who unravels it all.

#3 – THE DARK KNIGHT
Impossible to separate Heath Ledger’s death from his remarkable interpretation of The Joker. This is an amazing image. In 30 years, I will look at this poster and immediately feel the impact of Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece.

#4 – BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S
You can almost hear Audrey Hepburn warbling “Moon River” at the sight of this iconic poster. Every woman wanted to be her and every man wanted to be with her.

#5 – SECRETARY
The 2002 cult classic about a sadomasochistic relationship between a demanding lawyer (James Spader) and a submissive secretary (Maggie Gyllenhaal). The movie is an under-appreciated gem. The poster may be even better.

#6 – UNFORGIVEN
This is my favorite poster made for Clint Eastwood’s masterful revisionist Western. Simple. Classic. Tells you everything you need to know about Clint’s Bill Munny character.

#7 – AMERICAN BEAUTY
A beautiful image that suggests the perversity that lies just beneath the surface of the suburban neighborhood created by screenwriter Alan Ball and director Sam Mendes.

#8 – SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
“You will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won’t you?” You can almost hear Dr. Hannibal Lecter say it. The Death’s-head moth “lodged” in Clarice Starling’s throat. Brilliant image.

#9 – VERTIGO
An ode to acrophobia as Detective Scottie Ferguson (as played by Jimmy Stewart) battles his fear of heights while becoming obsessed with Madeleine Elster (the stunning Kim Novak). This kaleidoscopic design immediately brings the strains of Bernard Hermann’s amazing score into my head.

#10 – PULP FICTION
Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace in all her swagger. Yes, she does wind up with a sharpie circle on her chest and a shot of adrenaline, but the whole gritty movie is captured with this image.

HONORABLE MENTION
- in no particular order -
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
SWEENEY TODD
MEAN STREETS
AMADEUS
GONE WITH THE WIND
METROPOLIS
KING KONG (1939 Fay Wray version)
CLOVERFIELD
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.

11pm PST – Bugsy (1991) The famed gangster running the mobs in Los Angeles tries to turn Las Vegas into a vacation paradise. Cast: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley Dir: Barry Levinson C-136 mins, TV-MA

Warren Beatty and Annette Bening smolder like Bogie and Bacall in a superb film that only gets better with each passing year. “Bugsy” is one of those rare period pieces made over the last 20 years where the casting’s so perfect no one looks silly in a fedora. Real grown ups placed in a beautifully designed production that never breaks the spell of time and place.

Beatty is marvelous as the charming mobster with a terrifying hair-trigger temper, and Bening is just as memorable as his equal in both the good and the bad. The first time Beatty’s Bugsy blows his stack is an unforgettable Jekyll and Hyde moment, but the heart of the story, the stormy love affair and visionary but doomed (at least for Bugsy) quest to transform Las Vegas makes for one of the last truly great biopics to come out of Hollywood.

The supporting cast shines, but especially Elliott Gould in a small but pivotal role as a sad sack gangster who knows he can always rely on Bugsy for … whatever. You’ll see what I mean.

A truly great film. Plenty violent, but a modern classic well worth your time.