Sylvester Stallone Explains That Making ROCKY BALBOA Was The "Toughest Challenge" of His Career
Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa is the sixth film in the Rocky franchise and it turns out that movie was the toughest challenge of his career. Rocky is one of Stallone’s most iconic roles and it’s been pretty incredible that he’s had the opportunity to play the character eight times! But, his time as Rocky almost ended with Rocky V.
It’s because of Rocky V that Stallone had such a hard time trying to get Rocky Balboa off the ground. He had to fight to get that movie made and it took him over 12 years to finally be able to make it happen. While I actually liked Rocky V, it was mostly considered a dud by both critics and audiences. He recently shared some insight on that rough journey he took on Instagram, saying:
“I love the sixth installment. It was the toughest challenge I ever had. Took over 12 years to make happen. No one wanted to make it. Absolutely no one. It was considered a joke. But in my heart I loved the idea and thought if I’m going to go out, I want to go out making this movie. Even though no one involved with the other previous productions wanted anything to do with it, and it finally made against all odds!!! When people ask what is your most memorable film moment. Rocky Balboa, without a doubt. That was the ultimate challenge. The first Rocky of course was amazing… But this one was almost impossible dream.I pushed that boulder uphill for 12 long years against overwhelming negativity until it finally happened… Almost by accident. Someday I’ll tell the whole story. The irony is a Rocky Balboa had never been done, even though no one wanted to do it, the story of Creed would’ve never been made. My thanks to MGM. So Keep Punching!”
I’m glad that Rocky Balboa actually got made because it really is a great Rocky film. It’s pretty awesome that he actually managed to pull it off and I’d love to hear that full story of how it actually “accidentally” ended up getting made. I want to know how a movie gets made by accident!
Stallone also shared a behind-the-scenes video of some of the fight training and choreography that went into making Rocky Balboa. Check it out!