Sylvester Stallone shoots 'Tulsa King' scenes at Tulsa International Airport

Stallone is starring in the Paramount+ series “Tulsa King.” Filming in Tulsa began Tuesday at the airport, with Stallone arriving on set in the morning to film interior and exterior scenes.

Pat Ratzlaff of Kalamazoo, Michigan, flew in to meet relatives at the airport and, after learning that the part of the airport had been transformed into a film set, paused to take photographs of Stallone from the upper level of a parking facility across the street.

“You don’t get to see something like this every day,” Ratzlaff said.

Mission accomplished, Ratzlaff said this before walking away: “I’m excited. I saw him. I have his picture.”

Filming for “Tulsa King” was scheduled to take place Tuesday through Thursday at multiple locations in Tulsa. Some downtown Tulsa streets are being closed due to their proximity to filming locations.

From “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan, “Tulsa King” stars Stallone as 75-year-old mobster Dwight “The General” Manfredi, who, after release from a 25-year prison term, is sent by the son of his former boss to set up shop in Tulsa.

“The ‘Tulsa King’ is a very interesting story,” Stallone said in a video when the venture was announced. “He is a lifetime gangster. He took the fall for his bosses and went to prison for 25 years and kept his mouth shut, and now he comes out. The next thing you know, he is in Tulsa. He has to now start a new life and create a gang because they want him to be an earner. That’s when the fun begins.”

Said a news release about the series: “Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Manfredi slowly builds a ‘crew’ from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet.”

“Tulsa King” marks Stallone’s first starring role in a TV series. Stallone announced his arrival in Oklahoma last week via a social media post in which he called Oklahoma the “Paris of the southwest.” The Instagram post has been viewed more than a million times.

Max Casella (“The Tender Bar”), Domenick Lombardozzi (“The Irishman”), Vincent Piazza (“Boardwalk Empire”) and Jay Will (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) were announced last week as part of the “Tulsa King” cast.

Stallone’s arrival at Tulsa International Airport was preceded by a legion of extras, who, pre-dawn, lined up outside an airport entrance. The extras were dressed as airport travelers from all walks of life for scenes shot in one of the airport’s baggage claim areas. They rested in chairs above the ticketing area prior to rehearsals and during breaks.

Security sentries were posted near filming sites at the airport and some visitors encountered minor re-routing inconveniences while getting to and from where they needed to go inside the airport.

Dottie Creason of Tahlequah was among them.

“But we enjoyed the airport,” she said “It’s the most beautiful airport I’ve been in actually.”

Creason was at the airport to pick up a friend who had flown in from New York. Before climbing into her vehicle at the parking facility, they stopped to catch a glimpse of Stallone and the “Tulsa King” crew.

“Now we can say we saw Sylvester Stallone at the Tulsa airport,” she said.

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