A studio once paid Sylvester Stallone not to make a movie
Although he has been one of Hollywood’s most iconic leading men for a long time now, that wasn’t always the case for Sylvester Stallone. Before he made his meteoric breakthrough with Rocky, Stallone struggled with bit parts in projects that seemed to lead nowhere. In fact, his first major role came courtesy of a softcore porno that Stallone agreed to because he was homeless after being evicted from his previous home.
Of course, Rocky changed everything, but it was an uphill battle to get it made in the first place. Drawing inspiration from the legendary 1975 match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, Stallone penned the script for Rocky in three and a half days. Initially, Henry Winkler offered to help pitch the idea to networks, but Stallone wasn’t ready to let someone else make alterations to the screenplay and turn it into an inferior TV movie.
Eventually, United Artists became seriously interested in Stallone’s script, but they didn’t want him anywhere near the production. The studio had already started drafting stars for the lead role, with big names like James Caan and Robert Redford entering the conversation. However, both Stallone and his agents knew they were onto something big and kept persevering until it was agreed that the actor was going to lead the impressive script he had written himself.
During an interview, Stallone revealed that the studio was actually ready to pay him a serious amount to make him go away. He said: “It went up to about $265,000… To stay away. To ‘get off my lawn, boy’. But what they didn’t count on is when a person hasn’t had that type of money, they really don’t miss it. In other words, if you haven’t ridden in a Rolls-Royce, you don’t mind bouncing around on a Volkswagen. You don’t have that frame of reference.”
However, Stallone felt like he had something to prove, which is why he didn’t let go. He continued: “But more than that, I knew that if I sold it even for $500,000, I knew that after the money was gone, I would become very bitter for having sold out because my one love was to at least fail on my own terms. I wanted to see if I could act because all these bit parts that you’re talking about, you really couldn’t say if this kid had talent or he was just a big fake.”
Looking back, it’s obvious that Stallone made the right decision because it transformed him into a global icon. Not only is Rocky recognised as one of the greatest sports dramas ever made, but the idea has also spawned multiple franchises that have garnered both critical and commercial success. The story of Rocky’s production is special for fans because Stallone practised the same values he preached in the film, not giving up until he reached the top.
Watch the clip below.
