Sylvester Stallone is a name that has become synonymous with the action genre in Hollywood. The actor has given us some of the best action movies and is the name behind the creation of the major action franchise, Rocky, which is still ongoing with a sequel series, Creed starring Michael B. Jordan. But the success and fame he enjoys today did not come in one day.
His journey was one filled with struggles, he left behind his abusive father and being bullied at school, and came to Hollywood to earn a name for himself and to prove everyone wrong. It took him a little while, but with his own script of Rocky, he managed to reach the top. But still faced a few hurdles and pitfalls, including when he thought his movie would end his career.
Sylvester Stallone feared First Blood was a career-killer
Apart from Rocky, another character Sylvester Stallone is known for playing is Rambo. The character of a soldier suffering from PTSD trying to live a normal life was loved by the audience. But when the movie was first made the lead star and co-writer of the movie was sure that it was a ‘career-killer’. After the creators dismissed the script by James Cameron that was deemed too violent, he co-wrote the script. But once the film was shot and the actor saw the initial ‘final’ cut, he hated it and it made him and his manager throw up.
He told in an interview with Howard Stern in 2005,
“I looked at this, I’m going, ‘This is a career killer. This film, when we did it, it was so bad—at least I thought, and even my manager—we both went out, I think we both retched together in the alley.”
He and his manager tried to buy back the rights to the film so that they could burn the negative. He confessed,
“We tried to buy it back and burn the negative. First Blood, on my children, we tried to buy it back and burn the negative.”
Despite all the disappointment, he used his genius and experience to change the movie’s final cut. And today it is an action classic that has four commercially successful sequels. But none of it would have happened if Stallone had followed his impulse.
Sylvester Stallone changed the final movie by removing his lines
Sylvester Stallone, when he first saw First Blood, the first thing he felt was dejected. To have extreme thoughts like burning the negative must’ve been caused by immense fear that right after seeing success with Rocky, he cannot hit rock bottom. But, when the initial impulse could not be acted upon, he sat back to think. Think of a way to save the disaster.
He explained in the interview,
“Originally it was three hours long. I stayed an hour and a half in the woods chasing guys. And plus, I was pontificating throughout the thing. For example, I shoot an owl, and then the owl drops, I go, ‘Take that, you mouse-munching mother [pauses].’ I said, ‘I can’t say this.’ And then there’d be lines like—the cop pulls me over and he goes, ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ I go, ‘Did you ever see Easy Rider? Yeah? Well, I’m Easy Walker.”
He then offered to cut all his lines,
“I said, ‘Here’s a good idea: Cut out all my dialogue. Every line. And have other people talk about you—which by the way is not a bad way to live in general. Other people fill in the blanks. Like the Greek chorus, you know, and I think that works really well.”
This somehow worked for the movie. Stallone despite hating the movie managed to save it, and it became one of his major hits, and Rambo is a character we often associate the actor with. The movie also managed to earn $125 million against a budget of $15 million and eventually turned into an immensely successful franchise.
Source: The Howard Stern Show
