Rocky acted as a major stepping stone to success in Sylvester Stallone’s career. The movie catapulted him not only to international stardom but also established him as an amazing writer. Despite the contribution of the 1976 movie to his career, Rocky also made Stallone suffer for a considerable amount of time.
Soon after making Rocky, when Sylvester Stallone tried to do other things, he had to face immediate comparison with the 1976 blockbuster. The expectations were so high that it even led the actor to have a major disappointment in his career.
How Rocky brought big losses to Sylvester Stallone?
Even after the boost given by the $225 Million to his career, Rocky can’t be termed as a blessing for Sylvester Stallone. The first movie in the boxing franchise led to a number of his films being flopped due to their comparison with Rocky which was simply unfair. His 1978 movie F.I.S.T is probably the biggest example as it failed to amass similar fame.
In an interview with Roger Ebert, Sylvester Stallone was open to speaking about the immediate influence of Rocky on his career. His F.I.S.T and Paradise Alley even after being considerable profits were nothing in front of the Rocky Balboa classic.
However, Sylvester Stallone was okay with all this as he did earn some profits from the movies. At a point, he also felt that the media influence was also high. He alleged that he was set up in the eyes of the media to make a flop after Rocky. But the actor became more angry when he was asked if Rocky II would be his comeback film.
“They all ask me, Will Rocky II save your career? Is this my comeback, they wanna know? Will it pull my career out of the toilet? I didn’t think I was doin’ so bad. I’ve never made a film that lost money.”
The actor pointed out that if he wanted the 1979 sequel to be his grand comeback then he could have even made Rocky Balboa an astronaut. He could make the movie a more grand commercial drama to attract the masses if a comeback was his sole motive.
How did Rocky’s success affect Sylvester Stallone psychologically?
It can’t be denied that often success leads to changes in our thought process and inflates our ego which might prove to be very unhealthy. Often many people especially celebrities fail to handle their rising stardom and don’t take much time to fade out easily.
Sylvester Stallone also made a similar mistake after the gargantuan success of his Rocky. He claimed to have abused his power badly and didn’t realize what he was saying. In a conversation with BBC, he admitted that if he could, he would have gone in the past and punched his younger version hard on his face.
“I abused power badly. I read some of the interviews I gave now and wish I could go back and punch myself in the face.”
Only when Sylvester Stallone noticed that there were only two people including a sleeping man in the first-day showing of Paradise Alley, he realized that he wasn’t doing it correctly. Even though his directorial debut failed, the actor and filmmaker never stopped and went on to deliver some of the biggest hits in Hollywood.