Joe Rogan a Fan of Sylvester Stallone’s Resilience: Refuses to Sell Out, Defies Hollywood’s Plan to Cast Ryan O’Neal as ‘Rocky’

Reportedly, Sylvester Stallone took three days to complete the script of ‘Rocky’. The young New Yorker had been looking for a breakthrough to end the struggle that commenced in 1968. However, the Muhammad Ali – Chuck Wepner fight on March 24, 1975, altered the equations. While ‘The Greatest’ managed to retain the titles hard won at Kinshasa, it was a life-changing experience for the actor.

The ‘Joe Rogan Experience’ completed thirteen years last December. The hugely successful podcast taken over by Spotify in 2020 proudly boasts nearly 13 million subscriptions. Some four years ago, he had invited former wrestler and actor Diamond Dallas Page to the show. Episode 1166 was viewed by roughly 6 million viewers! Rogan and Page moored their discussion over Sylvester Stallone in one of the clips available on YouTube.

As much as they were in awe of the legend and the movies he did, they couldn’t help but admire him for the stand he took early in his career.

Sylvester Stallone stood against real giants!

The duo got off with how during Rocky’s third edition, Stallone and WWE legend Hulk Hogan as ‘Thunderlips’ fought. Rogan commented that the former, despite playing out a Heavyweight in the movie, had the appearance of a Middleweight! But still, he took on a professional towering over him!

He was amazed and wondered whether Hogan would measure up to today’s weight standards by UFC. Then he mentioned that while the promotion does have a Super Heavyweight division, it has never been active. So much so that even a few fighters who stood above 265 lbs. Heavyweight benchmark had to lose weight to meet the requirements.

Read More: “Larger Than Yours”: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Message to Sylvester Stallone in 2019 Left Everyone Red-Faced

And the duo mentioned quite a few noted fighters in that category, such as Brock Lesner, Francis Ngannou, Tim Sylvia, and Mark Hunt.

The Rocky Story

Then Diamond Page made his observation on the famous Rocky script-writing story, on JRE podcast. He said, “But what I love about Sly, like you know you go back to a lot of people don’t know that story. I’m sure you do you know how he wrote that script a rocking would not sell it…”

And Rogan shared, “like Ryan O’Neal to play rock here someone called Paul Newman I forget who it was I feel I feel like it was Ryan O’Neal they wanted Ryan O’Neal to play Rocky and he held out he’s like no I f*****g wrote this this is me.”

The story goes that Stallone’s goal was always to star in the film. And with that motive, he pitched the idea to several other studios. Finally, producers Irwin Winkler and the late Robert Chartoff were interested in the story. They were willing to pay Stallone $360,000 for the rights. However, with the caveat that the casting decision would be theirs. Reportedly their list included Robert Redford and Burt Reynolds. Stallone did not budge from his stand. Ultimately, all the parties agreed to him to play the lead character, albeit with a slashed budget.

Which is your favorite Sylvester Stallone movie? Do share your opinions and view with us in the comments below.

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