Sylvester Stallone rocked the world in 1976 when he created and starred in Rocky. With an iconic storyline of an underdog boxer rising through the ranks, Stallone’s fame shot through the sky with the actor making it big in Hollywood.
With this unparalleled fame, the actor developed an ego which he later regretted in his career. Starring in a 1978 film titled Paradise Alley, the actor was humbled (and also heartbroken) to see only two people sitting in the theater during the premiere of the movie!
When Sylvester Stallone Was Humbled By His Failure
After starring in Rocky, Stallone quickly found fame and power to his name. Wanting to continue expanding his powers, the actor delved too quickly into the wrong movie thinking that his fame was enough to make millions.
Starring in the 1978 film Paradise Alley, Sylvester Stallone portrayed the role of Cosmo Carboni as he and Armand Assante’s Lenny Carboni tried to make their youngest brother a great wrestler. Although the plot was great, Stallone revealed to Jonathan Ross (via BBC) how Rocky had made him “insufferable”.
“I abused power badly. I read some of the interviews I gave now and wish I could go back and punch myself in the face.”
Sitting at the first-day show of his film Paradise Alley, the actor observed that there were only two people sitting in the theater.
“And one of them was asleep. [It was] a humbling experience [but] a good thing [for him]”
The 1978 film managed to earn a meager $8 million at the global box office and was criticized by audiences and critics alike.
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Sylvester Stallone Couldn’t Forgive Himself For Paradise Alley
Talking about how he wrote the screenplay for the movie, Stallone revealed that he wasn’t happy at all with how the film turned out. With allegations of hurrying things up and removing 40 scenes from the movie, Sylvester Stallone revealed in an interview with Roger Ebert that he could never forgive himself.
“I’ll never forgive myself for the way I allowed myself to be manipulated during the editing of that film,–There were a lot of scenes in there to give atmosphere and character, and they wanted them out just to speed things along. They removed 40 scenes, altogether. I put 10 of them back in for the version shown on TV.”
Well, it’s all in the past now but Stallone did manage to work his way up the ladder once again. Paradise Alley received an average rating of 5.7/10 on IMDB and 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is available to rent on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
