Washington, Nov 30: Hollywood action man Sylvester Stallone was so broke while trying to get movie bosses interested in his first ‘Rocky’ script that he was forced to sell his pet pooch to put food into his mouth.
The actor, who gained world-wide fame only after the 1976 movie turned out to be a smash hit, revealed that there had been a time when while trying to get studio bosses to pick up his movie, things had gone so bad financially that he had had to sell his beloved dog as he only had 106 dollars left.
"I had to sell my dog outside a 7-Eleven," Contactmusic quoted him, as saying.
Stallone’s ‘Rocky’ was inspired by the Mohammed Ali-Chuck Wepner fight he saw on March 24, 1975. That night Stallone went home, and in three days he had written the script for the movie. Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler in particular liked the script, and planned on courting a star like Burt Reynolds or James Caan for the lead role.
Stallone was offered several hundreds thousand dollars for the script, but he didn`t accept, as he wanted to play the lead role himself. Reluctantly, the producers agreed.
As it turns out, the move turned out to be a real golden goose, for not only was the movie a hit, but Stallone was also nominated for an Oscar for his role as Rocky Balboa.
In addition to winning Best Picture, Rocky won for Best Director and Best Film Editing. Rocky cost about 1.1 million dollars to make, and grossed about 225 million dollars worldwide.
However, the actor revealed that even after the movie turned into a financial and critical success, he still didn`t have enough money to pay for a proper tuxedo for the Academy Awards.
"I wore a rented tux with a big, frilly shirt, which was open to the second button. I had a wife-beater on under that, so it was doubly bad. I was a cornball right off the potato wagon. Even the limo driver said to me, `You better put on a tie. Here, you can borrow mine,`" Stallone added.
The action man is now all set sign off on the boxing film franchise with ‘Rocky Balboa’ next month (DEC06).
Bureau Report with ANI inputs
