>> Continued From the Previous Page <<
The Injury That Could Have Ended Rocky
Stallone described how Schwarzenegger’s trainer, Franco Columbu, challenged him to a bench press contest—and the result was catastrophic.
“He goes let’s have a competition with bench press,” Stallone recalled. “So I go down and it’s maybe only 200, and I’m just warming up, I hear ‘pow’, I go ‘aaah’ and I fall on the floor and I’m going ‘aah,’ and then Franco goes’ let me see’, and he jams his fingers.”
“I had torn my pec off the bone, I mean bad, I could hear it go rip, and he’s jamming his fingers in, and I think I’m gonna black out,” he added.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Rocky II was already in production, and Stallone’s injury threatened the intense fight scenes that were central to the story—especially Rocky’s climactic bout against Apollo Creed for the heavyweight title.
Thinking Fast to Save the Film
“I go home, and I feel like my career is over, I’m supposed to start Rocky II, directed everything, in a month and a half and I’m like you know, I gotta have this thing sewn up,” Stallone said.
Facing what could have been a career-ending setback, Stallone made a bold decision: he would adapt the movie to his injury.
“I can’t use this arm so I’ll change it in Rocky, he’ll fight right-handed,” he explained. “But I said I’m not stopping this movie just for this, and this is a bad injury. So I switched arms doing Rocky it was one of the key things.”
From Near Disaster to Legendary Success
The quick thinking paid off. Over nine films, the Rocky series grossed more than $948 million, with Stallone’s character becoming the ultimate symbol of perseverance.
Rocky II was crucial in building on the success of the original 1976 Rocky, which earned $225 million on a budget of just $860,000 and went on to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. Audiences were hungry for more of Rocky’s story—and Stallone’s resilience ensured they got it.
Had he not acted decisively to work around his injury, the Rocky franchise might have fizzled after a single hit. Instead, Stallone turned a near-catastrophe into a defining moment in cinematic history—and cemented his legacy as one of Hollywood’s greatest action stars.
