Sylvester Stallone left crying after being forced to sell a dog to Rocky | Movies | entertainment

Sylvester Stallone is without a doubt one of the biggest Hollywood stars of all time. The ’80s movie legend is not only known for Rambo, Demolition Man, The Specialist, and countless other popular franchises.

But his biggest and best movie series of all is undoubtedly the Rocky series – which is on TV Tonight at 10:15pm on ITV.

Before Rocky became a global phenomenon, Stallone was nobody; Just a simple guy in Hollywood trying to make ends meet.

At the time, in the mid-70s, his wife was pregnant with Sasha Zack, and no money in the bank. He’d been traveling around Hollywood trying to sell the Rocky movie to all the major production companies, but when no one agreed to make the movie, he was stuck and broke.

Stallone, now worth $400 million, had a tough decision about keeping food on the table.

Read more: Sylvester Stallone was quickly silenced by Michael Caine on set

Stallone wrote the script for Rocky, but he had some stipulations for the final movie. He wanted to star in the film as the titular hero, and wanted complete creative control over the final film.

These demands were a little difficult for most of the companies, so he was left with no income, a baby on the way, and a rent increase.

In an act of desperation, he went to a local liquor store and began begging people to buy his prized dog, Butkus, for $100. When Stallone finally found a buyer, he walked away crying.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the only patron he had was offering him a measly $50. Distraught, he made the deal and cried all the way home.

He spoke about the event in 2013, saying, “Yeah, I sold my mastiff Butkus to a little guy. I tied my dog ​​up in the store to a tag that said a hundred dollars. I got 50 bucks from this guy called Little Jimmy.”

Stallone was so heartbroken that he had to sell his beloved puppy – but his luck eventually turned around.

Just a week later, Stallone sold the script to Rocky to United Artists for a whopping $1 million fee. Although there wasn’t a lot of money for a feature film, it was enough to do the first thing on his to-do list: get his dog back.

But there was a big problem on his way: little Jimmy.

Stallone recalled: “When I sold the script for Rocky, I went to see Little Jimmy and begged to return the dog. His kids lined up [and said]: “My children love the dog.”

Stallone responded by saying, “I only had him one week!” to remember: “[Little Jimmy] He wanted to fight me and said he was going to kill me – he was a crazy little person! I couldn’t fight it – they arrested me – so I offered to pay twice as much.”

Stallone explained that he received “several threats” from Little Jimmy before the pair settled on a £3,000 fee to buy his dog back.

However, it ended up giving Little Jimmy a massive break in his career.

Stallone revealed how he gave Little Jimmy a role in Rocky when it was eventually released in 1976. He said: ‘I ended up putting him in the movie. Remember in Rocky, when the little guy said, ‘Hey, did you win?’ “What are you, deaf?” And he says, “No, I’m short!” He is.

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