Sylvester Stallone had to overcome several obstacles before he could make his iconic film, Rocky. When Universal Artists accepted Stallone’s pitch for the film, they initially wanted to buy the rights from the First Blood actor. He adamantly refused, insisting on playing the lead role in the film, which the studio accepted after putting forth some conditions. Stallone wrote the screenplay for the film in three days and shot the entire movie in just 28 days according to these conditions.
Rocky became a timeless classic in cinema history and popularized the theme of the American Dream in sports. The film, which won the Best Picture Oscar, catapulted Sylvester Stallone to the status of one of the biggest action stars of his time.
Sylvester Stallone Was Given An Awful Ultimatum To Make His Iconic Film
Sylvester Stallone went on to make six more films in the Rocky series, turning it into a nearly $2 billion phenomenon. However, his path to success was far from smooth. He made several attempts to pitch his Rocky idea and even considered making it a television film. When United Artists showed interest in his pitch, they offered to purchase the script for $360,000.
They were keen on casting bigger names like Jimmy Caan or Nick Nolte in the lead role. However, Stallone refused to budge, insisting that he should play the character of Rocky Balboa. During an interview with Howard Stern, the Demolition Man actor revealed that the studio eventually agreed to cast him but under certain conditions.
The studio gave him a probationary period of 14 days, during which they could fire him if they found him inadequate in the role. He was also asked to complete production within a month. Stallone, in response, kept his budget considerably low and completed filming in 28 days. The Escape Plan actor told Howard Stern:
“They finally broke it down and said, ‘We can do this film. But if you’re gonna be in it, we have a 14-day thing where we can fire you anytime, if you do anything wrong. More importantly, we can reduce it [budget] down to nine hundred grand all in. And if you can do the thing in under thirty days, okay. If not it’s over.’”
The film made under a budget of $1 million went on to gross $225 million at the box office. Stallone’s gamble ended up making the studio very rich. Both the Cobra actor’s screenplay and his performance received immense praise from both critics and audiences.
Sylvester Stallone’s Motivation Behind Making Rocky
Sylvester Stallone had deeply personal reasons for writing and starring in his career-defining boxing film. During an old interview with BBC in 1977, Stallone revealed that he disapproved of the direction that Hollywood was taking at the time. The films being released had become overly negative, with themes that were against society, God, and the government. Stallone felt that these films depicted a horrific situation where there was nothing to stand for.
The Tulsa King actor wanted to change this situation and go back to the glorious old days of Hollywood when more films were discussing the American Dream. Stallone shared in his BBC interview:
“I felt at the time that cinema, at least the movies that I had been seeing, were at an all-time low. Everything was anti-society, anti-Christ, anti-government, anti-everything, and there was no one to root for. I wanted to get back to the cycle of the films of the ’40s and the ’50s. People say ‘I miss the good, old films’, yet Hollywood hasn’t taken heed and hasn’t made any good, old-fashioned type films where morality was at the forefront.”
The franchise is set to produce a seventh Rocky movie and a fourth Creed movie. All the movies in the Rocky franchise are now available for streaming on MGM+.
