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Hey, remember that old story about how Sylvester Stallone walked into the United Artists’ offices and demanded they buy his script and let him star in the film? And how he only got $18,000?
Bullshit, says a report by Alex Ben Block.
Hollywood Today is reporting that the “underdog” tale of the actor’s office-storming, $18,000 payment and related Rocky-like tales to the press was just a PR stunt:
“We came up with a tremendous publicity campaign,” recalled Gabe Sumner, then head of marketing at UA. “It was about how this unknown guy named Sylvester Stallone walked into our office with a script and the company was prepared to buy the script, but Stallone said, ‘I’m not going to sell it to you unless I star in the film.’ And we (supposedly) said, ‘No way.’ And he said, ‘Well, you can’t have the script.’ And we said, ‘We will give you $18,000.’ And that was the figure we used. And a deal was made and Stallone could star in this film which he wrote. And he got all of $18,000. Now is this true? It was horseshit! But it worked. It promoted the whole underdog concept and kept on going.”
“I don’t have to tell you how the press feeds on the underdog story,” said Sumner. “It filled up space on entertainment pages, and in columns looking for something for the next day. They ate up the idea that this actor loved his work so much, and was willing to sell it for a nickel and a dime in order to make it, blah, blah, blah. It all became part of the underdog fabric that brought people in. Period. They just totally bought into it.”
Representatives for Stallone said on Wednesday, “We stand by Sylvester Stallone’s story as the accurate truth.”
Rocky, the report says, actually went into production without anyone at United Artists meeting Sly Stallone. This shocking truth that a PR flack might say something untrue will no doubt cause many Rocky series fans to go into convulsions.
The Untold Story: “Rocky” Underdog Origin a Studio Myth [Hollywood Today via Defamer]
Photo by hardillb, licensed via Creative Commons
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