Fist class facts
The first film, which came out in 1976, told the rags-to-riches story of Rocky Balboa, a workingclass amateur boxer and debt collector who gets a shot at the heavyweight world championship. Writer Stallone got the idea for the film after witnessing a Muhammad Ali fight. He had less than £100 in the bank when he penned his first draft. The story only took three-and-ahalf days to finish and at first had Rocky throwing his fight against champion Apollo Creed before buying a pet shop for love interest Adrian with the money he made, rather than slugging it out.
Sly was paid just £16,000 for the script and a minimum acting wage of less than £300 per week – but the movie went on to make more than £179million at the box office and proved to be the biggest hit of 1976. Adrian was played by Talia Shire. It was almost Susan Sarandon in the role but she was rejected for being “too sexy.” Cher was considered, while Bette Midler turned down the part. Stallone and Carl Weathers, who played Creed, rehearsed their big fight for four weeks. It was shot at the Los Angeles Sports Arena and the producers got people to play the crowd with the offer of a chicken dinner. The film has spawned seven sequels – Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1990), Rocky Balboa (2006), Creed (2015), and Creed II (2018). Stallone is in all eight. He wrote seven films and directed four. All three of Sly’s wives have appeared in the franchise. First wife Sasha was a fan who got a kiss in Rocky III, Brigitte Nielsen was Drago’s icy Russian wife in Rocky IV, while the current Mrs Stallone, Jennifer Flavin, was a groupie in Rocky V. Rocky III villain Clubber Lang was played by Mr T, a former bodyguard to real-life boxers including Ali.
That film was the first time he used his catchphrase: “I pity the fool.” Drago is medically engineered in Rocky IV to demonstrate the Soviet Union’s “superiority” to the West. It’s not so far-fetched as a similar scheme in World War Two saw 300 soldiers having probes put in their brains to dull pain. Metal was grafted under their bones to stop bullets.
Hulk Hogan was fired from the WWE after the wrestler appeared as Thunderlips in Rocky III without getting his bosses’ permission. It was a year before they would let him fight again.
Charlie Chaplin and Elvis Presley were both fans of the first film and invited Sly to visit their homes. Stallone turned down the stars’ invitations and both men died a few months later.