The arts and film industry has led to the development of modern careers from acting, music and other artistic performances. The film and music industry appears to be one of the most developed and popular in the world. The rise of many stars from their talent and skills has made them famous like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone among many others. Arnold and Stallone were famous for their action packed movies back in the 80’s and 90’s. Sylvester Stallone has continued to work in the film industry until recently while others like Arnold decided to join the politics.
Stallone’s real full name is Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, and his life story is that of rags to riches or the Cinderella theme story. His theatre and biography would be considered as an inspiration to the readers. He had been poor to an extent that he stole his wife’s rings and jewelry and sold it just to survive. He later became homeless and lived on the streets with his dog. At one point, he was forced to sell his dog for only $25 at a liquor store because he discovered that he could no longer afford to feed him despite his love for the dog (Sanford, et al., 1986). He later watched a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner. Wepner was getting beaten up by Ali but still struggled despite the slim chances of winning (Laurent, 1995). Wepner was an underdog that inspired Stallone to write his first script for Rocky having taken over twenty hours continuously writing it.
The desire and passion for acting led him to reject any other ordinary jobs as he only wanted his acting dream career. He started marketing his written script to various film producers who consistently rejected his script. After several months of being rejected, one producer decided to buy his script. However, Stallone wanted to sell his script and also be cast in the movie. The producer and his team declined the offer claiming that Stallone was only good as a writer and not an act. Stallone attempted to convince them, but they consistently refused. They would overly offer huge sums of money for the script, but Stallone would not agree as he was only interested in acting the movie. Eventually, the decided to offer Stallone $250, 000 and a position in the movie (Laurent, 1995).
Rocky became one of the most watched and loved movies in the world winning an Academy Award in 1976 for best picture. The Rocky movie was the first step to Stallone’s success in the theatre. The $250, 000 that he was offered by the producers of the Rocky movie, the first thing he did was to buy back the dog he sold for $25 at $150, 000. He even offered the dog owner a part in the film as a bargaining chip to get his dog back. The guy and the dog also appear featured in the film. Rocky has gained over $150 million from various awards such as best editing, best writer as well as the Oscar awards for best picture (Laurent, 1995).
Stallone went on to thrive in the film industry and has written, directed, produced and acted in various other films. The character Rocky Balboa in Rocky was the first of his famous roles. The other role that made him popular was in Vietnam Wars as ‘John Rambo.’ He also collaborated with other big names in the action film industry like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the ‘Expendables’ and the ‘Expendables 2’ as his latest commercial hits. Apart from being an actor, Stallone is also a well-established director, writer and producer as a multi-talented person. He also seems famous for his lopsided smile and trademark garbled speech. For example; during the awards of 1976, he gave a speech on how he struggled to sell his first script for Rocky and the many rejections that he received (Sanford, et al., 1986).
Stallone has been in over fifty movies with some appearing in series for the Rocky Film. The rocky Film has been written into three series where he acts as Rocky Balboa. The is also the film named ‘Rocky Balboa’ and ‘Expendables’ series are some of the few films produced in series form. Some of his other movies are; Escape Plan, Homefront, Bullet to the head, Zookeeper, Spy Kids 3-D Game over, Get Carter, Assassins, Cop Land, Rambo (1985), Death Race, and much more. The movie, ‘Ratchet and Clank’ is the latest he has participated in for the year 2016. His recent production was in the film ‘Creed’ in 2015 which also received a huge number of positive reviews. He has written some of the movies he has acted alongside Rocky, such as the Expendables series, Homefront, Rambo, Staying Alive among others. However, some of this films have not hit the target as compared to ‘Rocky’ which makes it his best award winning movie. Stallone has also taken part in a music video by Sammy Hagar in 1987 called ‘Winner takes it all.’ He also appears in some television shows making him more and more popular in the entertainment world. Sylvester Stallone theatre life has been inspiring as well as entertaining through his talented acting roles in the many famous movies.
References
Laurent, W. (1995). Sylvester Stallone. Saint-Cloud (48 Bd Sénard, 92210): SIPE.
Sanford, W. R., Green, C. R., & Schroeder, H. (1986). Sylvester Stallone. Mankato, MN, U.S.A.: Crestwood House.
