“I abused power badly”: Sylvester Stallone Has a Pretty Good Reason Why He Wants to Go Back and “Punch myself in the face”
One of the best performers in the business, Sylvester Stallone, gained recognition for his portrayal of boxer Rocky Balboa in the Rocky film series. In addition to starring in the original Rocky film, Stallone wrote the screenplay for it as well. In 1977, this led to a nomination for two Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. The actor was the third nominee for two prizes in the history of the Academy Awards.
With his excellent acting abilities, Sylvester Stallone was able to star in several beloved and legendary films and quickly rose to the top of the acting profession’s salary scale. However, concurrently, he admitted that even though his movies were working, he was going through a tough time adjusting to the fame he received.
Sylvester Stallone admits to Rocky’s fame making him insufferable
During an on-stage interview with Jonathan Ross at the London Palladium back in 2014, Sylvester Stallone admitted that the fame that came along with the success and popularity of his movie Rocky had made him insufferable because his ego kept growing. He said via BBC,
“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”
The actor noted that he does indeed regret some of his behavior when he worked on other installments, adding that his own experiences had paralleled those of his character in the Rocky movies. Stallone added,
“I kind of made Rocky III autobiographical. I had become really egotistical, much more vain than I had been. That’s what happened to Rocky. That’s why you go down in flames – agents protect you and no one tells you the truth. It costs Rocky everything and he had to rebuild the eye of the tiger.”
The actor revealed that Paradise Alley was a wake-up call for him, which was his directorial debut and focused on the world of professional wrestling. He said it worked as a wake-up call for him after he saw only two people in the audience on the first day of the show.
Also read: Sylvester Stallone Felt Suffocated After ‘Rocky’ Tore His Family Apart, Left His Brother Traumatized
Sylvester Stallone reveals he thought Rocky would bomb
In his Netflix documentary, Sly, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, Sylvester Stallone revealed that he thought that his successful and popular movie Rocky would bomb at the box office when ¾ of the audience who had appeared for an early screening walked out after 20 minutes. He said via BI,
“The first review we got out of New York by Vincent Canby was scathing, so I didn’t know what to expect. We screened ‘Rocky’ five days before release. It was an afternoon matinee. 20 minutes into it, the audience, ¾ were gone. And I’m getting lower in the seat. I’m going, ‘Oh, shit.’ So when it did open, my confidence was not soaring.”
But he also admitted that the ones who stayed behind were engrossed in the movie, listening to every word being said by the actors on-screen, especially when Rocky fights with Apollo Creed, played by actor Carl Weathers. Stallone recalls that when his character knocks Creed down, the entire theatre went up almost like celebrating the victory of Rocky with him.
Sly is streaming on Netflix.
