Broke and unknown, Sylvester Stallone sold his dog for $40 outside a 7-Eleven; after selling the ‘Rocky’ script, he paid $15,000 to buy him back

Before “Rocky” made him famous, Sylvester Stallone was broke enough to sell his dog outside a convenience store for $40.

He told the story himself in a March 2017 Instagram post, next to an old photo of him with the dog as a puppy. The dog was a bullmastiff named Butkus, and getting him back after “Rocky” cost Stallone $15,000.

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‘Thin, Hungry and Living in a Flophouse’

Stallone dated the photo to 1971. He wrote that he and Butkus were “both, thin, hungry and living in a flophouse above a subway stop.” He said he rarely went out and relied on the dog for company.

“Years later when things got even worse I had to sell him for $40 in front of a 7-Eleven store, because I couldn’t afford food,” he wrote.

He named the dog after Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, according to Total Rocky, a fan site that tracks the history of the films.

Turning Down $360,000

Then Stallone wrote “Rocky,” the story of a small-time Philadelphia boxer who gets a shot at the heavyweight title. Studios wanted the script, but not with him in the lead. Early offers were around $25,000, and the price kept going up as Stallone refused to sell without playing Rocky himself. It reached $360,000, according to No Film School. He still said no.

United Artists eventually agreed to let him star but held the budget to about $1 million. The film came out in 1976, became the highest-grossing movie of the year and won three Oscars, including best picture. Stallone was nominated twice himself, for best actor and best original screenplay.

Butkus wasn’t the only part of “Rocky” that nearly went another way. Robert Redford and Burt Reynolds were both in the mix for the lead, Men’s Journal reported.

‘$15,000 … He Was Worth Every Penny!’

After the script sold, Stallone tried to buy Butkus back. The new owner knew he was desperate, Stallone wrote, and “charged me $15,000.”

“He was worth every penny!” he added.

He hasn’t always told it the same way. Over the years, Stallone has given different figures for the buyback, from a few hundred dollars up to $15,000, Total Rocky notes. The 2017 post is the version he put in writing.

Butkus in ‘Rocky’

Butkus ended up in the movie. He plays Rocky Balboa’s dog in “Rocky,” and he’s back in “Rocky II” in 1979, according to IMDb.

In the same post, Stallone gave the dog some credit for the movie itself. “It was his idea to write Rocky,” he wrote, “but don’t tell anyone.”

from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/HOFZ6Mg