Sylvester Stallone Was A "Terrible Choice" For "Rocky"

Everybody knows the film Rocky, knows you from that. People may not know, may not remember, that won the Oscar for best film in 1977. Right. You starred in it. You were nominated for both writing the screenplay and acting that year. Only two other people, Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles, have ever been nominated in those two categories in the same year. That's an incredible breakout year for you. It really was. And now, 40 years later, here you are playing Rocky Balboa again, training Michael B. Jordan, who plays Apollo Creed's son. And the reviews are extraordinary. How does it feel to be loved for playing Rocky now, here, 40 years later? It's the greatest gift. I know that sounds cliche and trite, but at one time, I thought, you wanna just be remembered as this main character? And then, as I got older, I said, what a privilege to be able to do this. And then, to be able to carry on for so long. And then, to have a couple of young filmmakers, 27 years old, come in and find new life in the movie. Rocky's story has basically been told, but now, Creed and Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler have created an entire new, I wouldn't say beginning of a series, but a character that really speaks for today's youth and what's happening today. Whereas, I spoke for what happened to George Washington, way back, Abe Lincoln, what he was going through. But you were struggling, you were struggling. You were a little bit like Rocky, because you were struggling. You didn't have a dime to your name. You were offered $300,000 to sell the script to Rocky, to have somebody else be in the role. You said, no, it has to be me. Why was that story so important to you? Why did you write it? You know, you have a few crossroads in your life, and I just realized that if I was ever gonna be successful, or at least true to my dreams, this is the part. Because I was always being cast as kind of the heavy. I was the one that would mug Jack Lemmon. I'd mug Woody Allen. I was the mugger. I'd mug Kojak. I was like, go get the mugger. So I thought, okay, why don't I take a character who's kind of a mugger, a loan shark, but he also has a lot inside that no one has really seen before. So you combine the two, and out came Rocky. Well, was it hard to convince the people who were putting up the money that you should be the person playing it? Did people doubt? How about the rest of the cast? Did they have any doubts in you? 100%. I doubted myself, sure. Are you kidding? They said, basically, we're a dead body. We've got this character. Because at that time, we had a lot of young actors who were energetic, like Jimmy Conn, and Burt Reynolds, and Ryan O'Neal. Everyone fancied themselves as a fighter. And they said, who's that guy with the crooked mouth and the drooping? No, forget him. He looks like a heavy bag. So leave him. He could be used in the gym scene. You could punch him. That was pretty much it. But again, it was just one of those things. And I don't know if it could happen today, because really, I was not qualified. If you look on paper, it was a terrible choice they made. I just got lucky.