Stallone Thriller 'Bullet to the Head' to Premiere in Rome

ROME – The world premiere of Bullet to the Head, an action thriller directed by Walter Hill and starring Sylvester Stallone, will screen at the International Rome Film Festival, organizers announced Friday.

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The festival also announced it would present Hill -- whose directorial credits in clued cult classics such as The Warriors, 48 Hrs., and Streets of Fire, and who produced the three films in the Alien franchise -- with a new honor at the seven-year-old Rome festival: the Maverick Director Award for “master filmmakers who have broken new ground in cinema and consistently stand out from the crowd.”

Italian-born screenwriter and producer Alessandro Camon, who co-wrote Bullet to the Head, will present the award to Hill on Nov. 14. Stallone is expected to be on hand for the honor, which will precede the world premiere screening of the film, which tells the tale of an unlikely alliance between a police officer and a hit man seeking to defeat a common enemy. The film is scheduled to open in the U.S. in February 2013.

Organizers did not say where Bullet to the Head will screen, but it is most likely to screen in the official selection but out of competition.

Bullet to the Head was among the films named Sept. 27 by The Hollywood Reporter as likely to screen at this year’s Rome festival. Along with animated 3D adventure story Rise of the Guardians, documentary Carlo!, and Centro Histórico (Historic Center), a film about the Portugese city of Guimarães, Bullet to the Head is just the fourth film officially announced for the Rome lineup.

Three of those films -- all except Rise of the Guardians -- are world premieres. New Rome artistic director Marco Mueller has vowed to produce a Rome lineup with 60 world premieres, meaning many surprises for the lineup are left to be unveiled between the announcement of the lineup for the Alice in the City autonomous sidebar, to be announced Monday, and most of the remaining lineup two days later.

The seven-year-old Rome festival will take place this year Nov. 9-17.