Sylvester Stallone was turned down as an extra in The Godfather: ‘I Couldn’t even get cast as an Italian’.
Sylvester Stallone is opening up about his life as a struggling actor before writing and staring the Oscar winning movie Rocky.
“I lived in basically this flop house, $26 a week, very transient, and you shared a floor with 10 people,” Stallone revealed in an interview with Robin Roberts for the ABC News special Journey to the Oscars.
Stallone, who was nominated for this third Academy Award for acting in the movie Creed, admitted that the lowest point in his acting career was when he was turned down as an extra in The Godfather.
“I couldn’t even get cast as an Italian,” Stallone said with a laugh. “I’ll never forget, there’s a party scene – it’s 300 guests! They said no. I said, ‘What part of me didn’t pass the Italian identification aspect?’ ”
At that point in time, Stallone felt like “God is telling me something.”
At that point in time, Stallone felt like “God is telling me something.” But, instead of giving up, he decided to take control of his life and write his own screenplay. Three days later, he finished the script for Rocky.
“I just didn’t understand how the rules of life were played at that point but this character I understood,” he explained.
“I just didn’t understand how the rules of life were played at that point but this character I understood,” he explained.
Despite receiving a $360,000 offer for the script, Stallone refused to sell the story unless he starred in the movie. Fast forward a few years and Stallone’s movie was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning three: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing.
Forty years later, Stallone is still rocking Hollywood in the Oscar race for his role in the Rocky reboot movie Creed, directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan. Ironically, it was a movie role Stallone nearly turned down.
“I never wanted to do this movie. I thought sick Rocky is exactly what is so counter-intuitive to what the optimistic aspect of what Rocky really is designed for … If you’re afraid of something, that’s the commitment of the artist. That’s his duty to pursue the unknown, to go someplace where he’s literally at odds with himself,” Stallone said.
Now, nominated again for the first time in 40 years, Stallone could not be happier to celebrate the movie’s success. “This is a really special moment in my life because there are not that many moments left. You know they are really getting very special,” he said.
