Hold Out For Your Dreams

Here’s an inspiring story: 🤩 

Back in the 50’s, a boy was born in Hell’s Kitchen with a partially paralyzed face, which would later give him a snarling look and slurred speech. 

He did not have a great upbringing. His parents fought much of the time. He struggled with homework and got expelled from multiple schools. The boy, Michael, and his brother Frank were put into foster care.  

During his teenage years, he discovered a passion for acting, as a way to express himself and began to pursue his dream of becoming a professional actor. 🎭

Acting jobs were sparse and he had to work multiple jobs to sustain himself and his wife. 

Due to his financial struggles, he even took on a role in an adult film. By the end of his 20s, he was desperate for something bigger, something significant that would finally help him make his dreams come true. 💭

And then one night, he went out to see Muhammad Ali fight Chuck Wepner. 🥊

"And what I saw was pretty extraordinary,” Michael would say later. "I saw a virtually unknown fighter called ‘The Bayonne Bleeder’ fight the greatest fighter who ever lived. And for one brief moment, this supposed stumblebum turned out to be magnificent. He survived the punches and lasted the rounds and even knocked the champ down. I thought if this isn’t a metaphor for life.” 

After witnessing the match, Michael started working on a screenplay. He was so inspired, he finished his script in just three days. 

He pitched his screenplay to some producers who had agreed to read it. 

They loved his idea but did not want him to have the lead role. So instead they offered him $360,000 for the script! 💰

Michael was broke and struggling but he did not yield. He insisted on nothing less than the lead role, no matter the money. 

The producers finally relented, but they decided to finance the movie with only $1 million, a meagre amount even at the time…  

But it allowed Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone to act the part of Rocky Balboa in the 1976 film “Rocky,” the highest-grossing film of the year, winner of three Oscars and considered to be one of the greatest sports films ever made. 🎬

𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗠𝗦! 💭