The time Sylvester Stallone Sold his Wife's Jewellery and then Sold his Dog!

Many people know of Sylvester Stallone for this Rocky films, but his own story is truly inspirational. It is not one that is shared enough to the public, but it is an amazing example of chasing your dreams no matter what the cost.

When he applied for many various acting positions, directors were cut throat brutal with their responses. There responses did not imply to his acting but his appearance. They stated Sylvester Stallone looked stupid, he sound like an idiot, and that nobody wanted to listen to somebody who looks dopey and can’t even talk properly. They basically said in brutal way there was no place for him in the acting industry and to go somewhere else.

Stallone never gave up. He wanted to be an actor his whole entire life, not only was it a place of escapism for him but also an opportunity to inspire others like him. He knew why he was pursuing his goal and felt it was worth the hustle so he continued pursuing his mission.

Sylvester Stallone got rejected by 1500 different agent offices in New York alone. – There is not 1500 different agents ..he just persisted to revisit some agencies eight or nine times. He wanted it so bad that he was willing to re-visit the people that simply just took the piss out of him.

Finally, after staying from 4pm to the following morning, over night outside some agency, and agent got frustrated and told him to come inside. The agent provided Stallone his first opportunity behind the lens where he featured for 20 seconds; a thug who got beat up. By this time Stallone was known within the industry for being the pest who wanted the job that he was ‘not made for.’ Thus, the director who provided him his first chance behind the screen saw it as an opportunity to give agents to see what they may get joy from ..seeing Stallone get beat up on the screen.

Not that Stallone performed bad upon them 20 seconds on screen, but beyond that movie all he received was further rejections for similar reasons. “You look terrible on screen, go do something else.” By this time money was critically low within the Stallone household, and his wife and him began to starve. Inevitably, strain become to feature within the marriage as his wife begged him to get a normal job to which he continuously declined. When asked about why he refused to get a job, Stallone would answer “I knew I would get seduced by an average working lifestyle that I would settle for mediocrity and lose my hunger.”

One day Stallone left his household and visited the public library. It was not to read books but to actually receive warmth. He sat down on the table, where somebody left a book of the story of Ed Rowe. Stallone went on to finish the book which taught him to think outside himself. The book inspired Stallone so much that he decided to start writing screen plays.
Once more, Stallone face further rejection after rejection. Each rejection caused more pain as he was starving, and practically homeless with no heat to go home too. Fortunately, after reaching low as $50 to his name he managed to sell one screenplay called, Paradise Alley for $100. Although Stallone thought this was his breakthrough in his life, it was not too be the case. Further rejection occurred to the extent they no longer had any money. Instead of finally giving up the chase of his dream and getting a ‘proper’ job, Stallone pawned his wife jewellery. This was the final knife in their marriage, although they stayed together ..she hated him.

Despite selling her Jewellery, Stallone loved his wife. He also loved his dog which he records ‘has provided him unconditional love from the first day.’ Stallone considered his dog as part of his family. However, being stone cold broke Stallone was unable to feed his best friend. So on the ‘lowest day of his life’ Stallone went to a liquor store and tried selling his love for $50. After hours of standing around waiting for a new buyer for his dog he loved dearly ..he ended up selling his best friend for $25. Stallone cried for nights after that.

Two weeks later Stallone was watching the Muhammad Ali vs Wepner fight. This fight simply featured Wepner getting blooded to death yet the desire to always get up before the 10 count. After watching this fight Stallone was once more sparked with inspiration that led him to writing a script. Stallone, wrote this story 20 hours straight without sleeping. His inspiration, hunger, pain enforced him to write 20 hours straight that he was shaking when he had finished. He titled this film, Rocky.

Returning to the agencies that has poked fun of him, Stallone presented this story. Many of them once more tore him apart, claiming it was ‘sappy, stupid, predictable.’ This did not dishearten Stallone however, although he was starving and insulted more times anybody could count, he truly believed in this story.

Continuing his pursuit, Stallone who was starving, finally found an agency that loved his script that they offered him $125,000 for his script! Absolutely ecstatic to what he heard Stallone told them they had a deal under one condition ..that he had to star as the main character. The two agents where adamant there was no way Stallone would play a part in this film. They wanted Ryan O’Neil for this position and could not vision Stallone at all within the film. They told Stallone, his one requested was not possible and told him to take it or leave it….So a starving Stallone rejected their offer with the $125,000.

A Sylver Stallone who was broke, starving, lost his best friend had the answer to as his problems with that $125,000, walked out of the office without a dime. Stallone knew his purpose and was not going to divert from it at any cost!
Couple weeks later, the agents returned to a starving Stallone and offered him $250,000 for the script, with the provision that he does not star in it. Stallone rejected once more, which prompted the men to raise it to their final offer of $325,000. Once more ..Stallone rejected their offer.

After understanding the script only came with the provision that Stallone is Rocky ..the agents returned with an offer of only $30,000. They told him, they did not think it was going to do well with him being the lead role, so if they were going to take a chance on him, they was not going to spend large amounts on him. A starving Stallone delighted with their offer accepted.
The movie only cost in total, 1 million dollars and went on too gross over 200million dollars. Asked what Stallone did when he received the $30,000 dollars, he replied “first thing I did was return to the liquor store for three days straight and buy my best friend back.”

The essence of Sylvester Stallone story is that he knew he wanted to be in the acting business. He wanted to be an actor his whole entire life and that he was willing to risk everything to attain everything. When our hunger and why burns bright ..there is nothing but only ourselves that can prevent us from reaching our objectives.