Casting Rocky

While United Artists were happy to produce the film, the studio didn't want to cast Stallone in the lead role.

The company tried to buy the rights to his script for $340,000 so they could choose whoever they wanted for Rocky – with contenders for the part including Burt Reynolds, James Caan and Ryan O'Neal.

However, Sly stood firm and refused to sell his script and eventually got the chance to star in his own project.