1. In preparation for film, Sylvester Stallone claims to have got his body fat percentage down to his all-time low of 2.8% and weighed 155 lbs. He stated that he ate only ten egg whites and a piece of toast a day, having a fruit every third day. His training consisted of a two-mile jog in the morning followed by two hours of weight training, a nap during the afternoon followed by 18 rounds of sparring, another weight training session, and finishing the day with a swim.
2. As he had done with the first two films, Sylvester Stallone incorporated biographical elements from his own life into Rocky's story. In particular, he chose to focus on the 'unreal' aspects of Rocky's life, and how out of touch he has become with 'normality'. When making this film, Stallone was at the height of his fame, and much of the over-the-top celebrity exposure experienced by Rocky was based on experiences Stallone had had himself.
For instance, the montage of Rocky's celebratory appearances features a scene of him on The Muppet Show. The footage used is actually a real episode featuring Sylvester Stallone from January 9th 1979. For the movie, Jim Henson dubbed Kermit the Frog's announcement that the episode's guest was Rocky Balboa, rather than Stallone. Stallone's actual appearance at the 1976 Academy Awards is also seen during the montage. Plus, much of the Rocky memorabilia seen in the opening montage was completely genuine memorabilia available at the time (such as Rocky t-shirts, Rocky boxing gloves and Rocky coffee mugs).
3. Hulk Hogan was fired by WWF chairman Vincent McMahon for accepting the role of Thunderlips in Rocky III. Because of his popularity from this film, two years later McMahon's son Vince McMahon, who now owned the company, brought him back to the WWF using Hogan as the centerpiece of his expansion into other parts of the country culminating in the first Wreslemania in 1985 where Hogan teamed with Mr. T.Talking of which...
4. Rocky III was Mr. T's film debut, and there's a line in the film when Clubber Lang is being interviewed before the rematch when he says,
"No, I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool".Yup, before "I pity the fool" became his trademark catchphrase on The A-Team it is used by Mr. T in Rocky III.
5. According to an interview given by Mr. T, he attended the movie's premiere with his mother. During the scene where he yells lurid remarks at Adrian, his mother turned to him and said,
"I did not raise you to talk to a lady like that."She then stormed out of the theater.
6. A song titled "You're the Best" performed by Joe Esposito was recorded for the film. But Syvester Stallone rejected it in favor of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". "You're the Best" was later offered and used in The Karate Kid.
7. A bronze statue of Rocky, called "ROCKY", was commissioned by Sylvester Stallone and created by A. Thomas Schomberg in 1981. In the end, three statues were created, each weighing about 800 pounds (360 kg) and standing about 8.5 feet (2.6 m) tall. One was placed on the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the filming of Rocky III. After filming was complete, a furious debate erupted in Philadelphia between the Art Museum and the City's Art Commission over the meaning of "art". Claiming the statue was not "art" but rather a "movie prop" the city considered various alternative locations and settled upon the front of the Spectrum in South Philadelphia. It was later returned to the Art Museum where it was used in the filming of Rocky V, as well as Mannequin and Philadelphia. Afterward, it was again moved to the front of the Spectrum. The statue was returned to the bottom of the museum's stairs on 8th September 2006.
A year earlier, one of the three statues was listed on eBay, with a starting bid of $5 million. It was being auctioned to raise funds for the International Institute for Sport and Olympic History, but failed to sell and was listed again for $3 million. After receiving only one bid, which turned out to be fraudulent, it was re-listed several times for $1 million until eventually selling. Bargain!
8. Morgan Freeman auditioned for the role of Clubber Lang's trainer.
9. Rocky's home exterior in the movie is actually the home in Chicago that Muhammad Ali lived in at the time of the movie's production
10. Rocky III was an enormous box office success and surpassed the gross of its predecessor, making $16,015,408 in its opening weekend and earning $125,049,125 during its North American theatrical run, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of 1982. Its worldwide box-office earnings stand at around $270 million
Previously
10 Things You Might Not Know About Rocky
10 Things You Might Not Know About Rocky II
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