Sylvester Stallone is one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Even today, while some would say he is past his prime, others would argue that the artist is still going strong, producing films that have a lot to say, just like when he wrote and starred in Rocky.
However, there was a time when the actor was in his prime but was still expected to fail. Stallone, speaking to Roger Ebert, opened up about how it seemed to the industry that he was set up for failure because critics and audiences were convinced that anything that followed Rocky, would be a letdown.
Stallone didn’t think he was doing so bad before Rocky-II
Speaking to Robert Egers, back in 1979, on the eve of Rocky II‘s premiere, Stallone opened up about how the media had been covering his career up until that point. It annoyed the actor that his career was viewed in such a negative light, given that in his own words, each of his films had managed to make a profit. He said:
“There is this one question, which when I hear it makes me very mad. They all ask me, Will ‘Rocky II’ save your career? Is this my comeback, they wanna know. Will it pull my career out of the toilet? I didn’t think I was doin’ so bad. I’ve never made a film that lost money. If ‘Rocky II’ was a comeback, I coulda made it a lot more commercial, Like, Rocky coulda been an astronaut.”
Rocky was Stallone’s most successful film, following which the actor starred in films with made a profit but never reached the same heights as Rocky. Rocky was a film that Stallone wrote while he was a struggling actor. The film propelled him to superstardom, only for public criticism to follow about his ‘fall’ from grace, as it seemed that the actor was chasing his Rocky heights, but unsuccessfully.
“People wanted Rocky” and Sylvester Stallon “was giving them Sylvester Stallone”
Opening up about his year, Stallone mentioned how difficult the last 2 years had been for him. The actor said:
“The last two years have been pretty tough, public image wise. I said some things that did not exactly endear me. My ego got blown out of proportion”
Stallone had said some unsavoury things on television, turning public opinion against him. This, no doubt, would have impacted his films, even if they made him a profit. Out of curiosity, the actor looked at some of his tapes, of interviews that had been conducted.
“I reran, just out of curiosity, some cassettes of talk shows I was on. I realized painfully that I was giving Sylvester Stallone and they wanted Rocky.”
After the realisation, and after the release of Rocky II, it became clear to the public that Stallone was not a one-hit wonder. The film went on to do well, spawning four more sequels that cemented Stallone as a mainstay in Hollywood cinema through the 80s and 90s.
