Sylvester Stallone celebrated his breakthrough with the boxing drama “Rocky”, whose screenplay he wrote himself. He was inspired by a fight between boxers Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali. The film was finally realized with a budget of 1.1 million dollars and became a box office success in 1976, making Stallone famous overnight. “Rocky” was nominated for ten Oscars in 1977 and won in the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Editing categories, while Stallone himself was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Original Screenplay.
Stallone repeatedly tried his hand at character roles. The one in the movie “Cop Land” was so important to him that he gained 41 pounds according to the director’s instructions and gave up his usual million-dollar salary. He gained the extra pounds thanks to pancakes, which he said were the size of wagon wheels.
Sylvester Stallone wrote the original script for “Rocky” himself – but 90 percent of the screenplay was changed. The reasons: it was too dark, Rocky Balboa was an unlikeable anti-hero, his trainer Michey was a racist and the ending wasn’t Hollywood enough.
Father Stallone advised his junior: “You weren’t born a light, so you’d better train your body.” This got Sylvester into sport and then into acting, but his father was wrong. Because Sly’s IQ is 141 points.
According to an analysis, Rocky’s training track in Philadelphia is around 48 kilo-meters long. That’s almost six kilometers more than the length of a marathon.
Sylvester Stallone and art
Stallone’s passion is art. He has been painting for over 40 years, but never wanted to go public with his work. His role model: Leonardo Da Vinci. He estimates the total number of works at 200 to 300. The sales prices range between 50,000 and 150,000 dollars.
Stallone spent a whole five days in intensive care because of a knock-out by Dolph Lundgren in “Rocky IV”, because the fight scene had to be portrayed as realistically as possible. This was not the only time he was hospitalized: after a bench-pressing competition, Sly had to have 160 stitches and has also had a metal plate in his throat since filming “Expendables”.
Sylvester Stallone wrote a total of 21 screenplays and made 46 films, which have grossed over a billion dollars over the years.
Sylvester Stallone – from homeless man to megastar
Sly’s first acting engagement was the soft porn “The Party at Kitty and Stud’s” (1970). For this role, Stallone, who was homeless at the time, was paid 200 dollars. His highest salary was 20 million dollars, which he collected twice – once for “Driven” (2001) and then a year later for “D-Tox”. Before “Rocky”, Stallone worked in Central Park, where he was responsible for cleaning the lion enclosures. His salary: 1.12 dollars per hour.
Stallone was voted the worst actor of the 20th century at the Golden Raspberry Awards. The award was given to the most important artist of the 20th century. In total, the “Rocky” films have received ten of the infamous anti-Oscars. In return, Sylvester Stallone was honored 15 times with the Golden Globe or the Critics’ Choice Movie Award, among others.
Sylvester Stallone wanted the song “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen for “Rocky III”. However, he did not get the rights to the song, whereupon he asked the band Survivor to write a new song: “Eye Of The Tiger” (1982) became a hit.
Stallone arrived on 6. July 1946 was born. He suffered nerve damage to the left side of his face as a result of the forceps, which led to a speech defect. He was ridiculed by his classmates for this, developed into an aggressive problem pupil and was expelled from a total of twelve schools.
Stallone has been married a total of three times and has five children. However, Sage, his son from his first marriage, died at the age of 36 as a result of heart disease. His other four children have since embarked on acting careers themselves.
Teaser photo: Picture Alliance
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