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In 1977, Sylvester Stallone explained why he wrote Rocky and how he convinced Hollywood to let an unknown actor play the lead.
When asked why he wrote the script, Stallone described what he saw as a problem with the films of that era:
"I felt at the time that cinema, at least the movies I had been seeing were at an all-time low. It was everything was anti-society, anti-Christ, anti-government, anti-everything. And there was no one to root for."
He believed films move in cycles, and he wanted to bring back something that had been lost:
"I wanted to get back into the cycle of the films of the 40s and the 50s where people say, 'Hey, gee, I missed the good old films.' Yet Hollywood hasn't taken heed and hasn't made any good old-fashioned type films where morality was at the forefront."
Up to that point, Stallone's career had been built on tiny roles, what he called "atmosphere":
"I was mostly what is known as atmosphere, always in the background or the guy that was being the drunk that was being stepped over in the gutter and other lame roles."
Writing Rocky was his way of giving himself one real shot before disappearing:
"I felt that gee, if I was going to go down at least into professional obscurity, I wanted to at least have the opportunity to say to myself, well, you tried. You put your best foot forward and you didn't make it."
He knew the character had to match what he could authentically play:
"I surely couldn't pass myself off at least as a lawyer in a three-piece suit. I just don't think I have that kind of appeal or whatever it is. So I wanted to take it much more basic. A man from the street. All right. What kind of a man? An underdog. And that being a professional fighter I think has that connotation to it."
When the script reached studio executives, they wanted a star.
They floated James Caan, Burt Reynolds, Ryan O'Neal, Gene Hackman, and Robert Redford. Stallone's pitch for himself came down to persistence and economics:
"Usually it's the old syndrome of knocking on the windows, pestering them, pressing my face in the door, honking their horn in the driveway. In other words, making a real pain in the neck out of myself."
"I kept saying I work a lot cheaper and a lot harder and for a lot longer."
The film was eventually made for $960,000, which Stallone described as roughly the cost of "a good toothpaste commercial."
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