Sylvester Stallone on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Promoting His New Movie, Rocky - pt.1

Sylvester Stallone on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson promoting His New Movie, Rocky - pt.1 - Airdate 12/16/1976 #johnnycarson #rocky #sylvesterstallone

Video Script:: 

I saw a movie the other night with a bunch of friends and it's not often that when the movie is over everybody in the room says hey that was a great picture we really enjoyed ever it's a knock out of a picture I have met no one yet really who has seen the picture who did not like it it was a picture started out in our business I guess you might call it what they call a sleeper I'd first heard about it some months ago about the story about the young man who had written this screenplay would not let somebody else play the part even though he had gone to the studio started in himself and it came out and all of a sudden it is one of the biggest hits in the country it was written by Sylvester Stallone who also stars in it and it's already received the Scholastic Magazine coronet magazine have named it best film of the year it's quite a story in itself if they'd made a movie about how this movie came about you wouldn't believe it would you welcome please the star of rocky Sylvester sly stallone [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well first of all let me say congratulations it's a hell of a picture thank you very much you ought to be very proud of that I am as I said it's not often you see everybody who sit in a room you know we're in a theater and get up and say well would you think usually people start picking a picture of artisan well it was little hero who let everybody everybody says geez that's entertaining yo didn't I tell the story in a way because if somebody wrote a story about the way this picture came about people would not believe it right that's true it was quite a long shot if I had known it was gonna be that's difficult I wouldn't have done it you know really yeah because I think it was a classic case of blissful stupidity no really seriously because I didn't know you couldn't do something like this therefore I didn't try so to me it seemed very normal honking your horn the driveway the producer and tapping on his window at all hours of the night and saying please please please and eventually I think they just gave me the money to go away no see it's worth a million to get rid of this you were in another picture we weren't you the lords of flat money Lords of lovers Henry Winkler was also on that picture Suzy fillet there were a lot of good that was a little classic of its own is that the only motion picture that you've well there's a couple of them buried back there like Linda in the meat cleaver and a few things everybody's goes that we don't they don't want to bring that right how did this come about it did you have the story rambling around in your head for some time well I knew that that I was just turning 30 years old and I was feeling geez I've been acting for ten years and nothing was gonna happen so what if I just take my particular play my inability to be recognized as an actor and put them in boxing shorts and make it a down and out downtrodden real underdog is when you're when you're a down-and-out underdog fighter that's about it slow down as you can get so what I did is I took my particular play put him in boxing shorts and then I took it to the studio they said well we like it it's different it seems somewhat innovative because there's no violence it's a love story many people consider it a fight film which is not true there's only like nine minutes of fighting it is basically a story about a man's you want to Richard and wanting to be something that's all right which I think that everybody really has is consuming desire have one shot like the armchair quarterbacks I'm sure they've just loved ones to go up just one pass so think ahead why do you think all those men watch football all right I do every time I see the quarterback I see John Navin I said it right I could do that or just once I would like to do that and believe that long bomb and they can carry me out and my life would be complete exactly but you didn't have any idea obviously no cuz I I know of one of the producers or one Winkler right who's a friend of my attorney Henry Bushkin who stood behind you and went to bat now when you got this together you went to the studios and I said didn't they want somebody else and say well we'll take the property right but we want as they usually say a bankable name I think is a term or recognizable marketable name lentils did they throw yeah did they draw names like Paul Newman no it was they saw an angel we would have been very good like Jimmy Caan and they serve Ryan O'Neal and they surround Burt Reynolds and whatnot but I felt it they had a few but dollars put away it says I was condemned once you know I'm doing 10 seed oh no kid really you might as well take the whole shot at really and it was it was getting a desperado time so they offered first $100,000 for the script and 150 to take a walk and I said no no no this is real how I don't think he walked about 265,000 now when he said we'll give you two hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars for that script how long what did you say well I said that's a lot of bread well after I stood up you know it's one of those things no I felt as though the money meant nothing when you haven't dealt in money that much it really had no bearing in other words since you had about I had about hundred six hours in a bank 265 soundless so remote to me and I would lie to myself like this all the time it's a good point he didn't know though it's like one of the race track the guy won $100,000 he lost it at the end of the day and says would you lose he said six dollars it doesn't have an impact so it really didn't bother me +100 sex was gaining interest yeah okay when we come back have enough for ya another 300 years you'd have homo you'd double your money we'll be right back stay where you are we have a film clip also pocket