Sylvester Stallone turned down $360,000 for Rocky script and had to sell his dog due to contract demand

The first look has been shown of an upcoming Sylvester Stallone biopic, and it shows the actor playing the iconic actor running on a beach with his beloved dog.

One aspect of the upcoming biopic, where the celebrity will be played by Anthony Ippolito, is certain to be the major financial struggles Stallone overcome to star in what is arguably the most well-known boxing film ever made.

Many don’t realise that Stallone wrote Rocky as well as starring in the film, and actually turned down $360,000 for the film’s script despite having very little money.

Stallone was so broke in fact that he has stated in the past that he had to sell his dog in order to keep himself afloat.

Stallone was struggling financially when he wrote Rocky in three and a half days

The rags to riches story Rocky goes through is mirrored in Stallone (United Artists)

According Stallone himself he wrote the script for the film in just under four days, and he was broke. In an older interview with Stallone he said: “I had to sell my dog and things were not looking very, very good. My $40 car had just blown up so I was taking a bus to work.

“You might say I had quite a bit of fuel to write the script, I wrote the script in three and a half days and only because I could hear the wolf at the door.”

In speaking to Graham Norton in 2019 he said he was placed at a ‘crossroads’ because he was offered huge sums for the film, but without him being attached as the lead of the film.

He said: “I wrote something I know I could do that I could feel good with and that could show everything that is possible in my repertoire.”

Stallone stated that it was a ‘roll of the dice’, and he was offered as much as $360,000 for the script if he agreed to let someone else star. He turned it down, and finally a deal was struck in which he’d star where he was paid just over $30,000.

This more than paid off, with Stallone receiving percentage points of the gross of the film which earned him millions.

Stallone later bought the dog, Butkus, back for $15,000

Stallone and his dog Butkus (BBC)

Continuing in his interview with Graham Norton, he stated that he always wanted an animal with him even though at the time he was working as an usher and only making $36 a week.

Stallone went back to the man he sold the dog to and asked to buy the dog back after the movie was sold, who he claimed did not want to sell him the dog back.

He sold the dog for $60 and was offered the chance to buy the dog back for $3,000.

Stallone's life will be a biopic (MGM)

As he was unable to he later struck a deal for $15,000 and a small role in Rocky for the person he sold it to.

Speaking about the upcoming biopic titled I Play Rocky, Stallone posted on Instagram wishing them luck, saying: “Good luck to them – keep punching!!” Whilst the first still was released last year footage has been shown at CinemaCon of the film.