Sylvester Stallone talks about ‘Rocky’ at TIFF, says he wrote what he knew

Actor Sylvester Stallone, during the screening of his classic 1976 film Rocky at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), said while writing and making the film, he just wrote what he knew and acted it out. The actor had written the script himself which, he maintains, is his best till date.

“I just wrote about what I knew. I was writing about this little kind of mentally challenged guy who happened to have a lot of heart,” Stallone said of his early Rocky Balboa character, as it took shape in his mind and on the page.

“I wanted to write a movie about a guy who says ‘I’m not great at all, never will be. I fight great fighters. But I just want the opportunity to go the distance,” Stallone said of his original Rocky character. He added that the Rocky Balboa character represented the apex of his career because no one at first in Hollywood wanted to make the movie. “Nobody wanted to make it,” he said.

The iconic Hollywood star, best known for his tough guy Rocky and Rambo movie franchises, also opened up about his early days as an actor. “I didn’t have the bones to be a Shakespearean actor. It’s important as an artiste to know what your strengths are, but more important to know your weaknesses,” Stallone said. Stallone’s documentary film Sly will hit the TIFF stage on a later date, as it won’t be affected by the ongoing Hollywood strikes.