EXCLUSIVE: How Rocky was the movie the studio DIDN'T want you to see - bosses tried to hit stop because 'who would pay for an unknown guy who has a rough life as a fighter and an ugly duckling girl?'

On the ropes before the bell rang: The producer of Rocky has revealed the epic struggle to get Rocky to the big screen - and paid tribute to Sylvester Stallone, who wrote the script and insisted on playing the boxer

It was the inspirational rags-to-riches story of a washed up small-time boxer who landed a million to one shot to fight the heavyweight champion of the world.

Rocky became an instant hit earning $225 million in global box office receipts making it the highest grossing film of 1976.

But today the producer behind the blockbuster reveals how the movie was just as unlikely a success as Balboa himself - and that it overcame blows from the very start which would have put lesser movies on the floor permanently.

Irwin Winkler told Daily Mail Online how he battled a studio so reluctant to make Rocky that it offered to buy the script to stop it being produced, made the movie on a budget so small the cast and crew shared Sylvester Stallone's trailer's toilet, and then had to overcome a critical mauling at the hands of the New York Times. 

Today the Rocky franchise is in its seventh incarnation as Creed, the story of how Rocky Balboa trains Michael B Jordan's character to follow in his footsteps.

But in 1975 it was the brainchild of Winkler and Stallone - the actor he met by chance during casting calls for another movie who tried to convince him to make another script he had written.

Stallone was facing tough times. He had a pregnant wife, $106 to his name, sold his dog for cash and appeared to be losing out on his dreams of getting a big break in Hollywood. 

He was only landing bit parts as criminals or muggers and even appeared in a soft core adult film. 

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Quick work: Irwin Winkler (right) and the movie's director and crew had just 28 days to shoot the entirety, with a budget of just under $1 million

After attending a raft of open calls, Winkler called in the Italian looking hunk for a screen test at his production company Chartoff-Winkler headquarters in LA. 

Winkler, now 84, told Daily Mail Online: 'Sylvester came in to see us as an actor, at which point he'd just done a couple of small films.

'As he left the office he said, "Oh by the way, I'm also a writer, and I have a script that I'd like you to read. Would you read it?" So we said, "Sure."

'And the script wasn't Rocky at all, it was another script, and we read it and thought the writing was quite good, but it was not something we were interested in doing, so we call him and we said, "Look, we like your writing, we think you're a really good writer but we don't think we like this script.' 

Ultimate success: Irwin Winkler with the Oscar for Best Picture, Sylvester Stallone, who won Best Actor, and Robert Chartoff, the other half of the Chartoff-Winkler production house which made the movie. He died this year

'Which, as it happens, he ended up making into a movie later on and it was called Nighthawks.

'He said, 'Well, I've got an idea for another film, so if you like my writing can I come in and tell you the story about this other film that I want to write?'

'So we invited him in and he tells us the story of Rocky.'

Stallone was inspired by watching Muhammed Ali fighting New Jersey underdog Bayonne Bleeder Chuck Wepner.

Wepner, a 30-1 no hoper, knocked Ali to the ground in a fight in 1975 - the first and only time legendary Ali was knocked down while holding the heavyweight title.

Winkler described how Stallone told him: 'Listen, I will write the script for you and if you like it and you want to make it I have to star in it. And if you don't like it then you don't have to invest it in.'

'So we said okay and he went away and wrote the script in less than three weeks, and we liked it a lot and we budgeted it,' Winkler said.

'He was a fascinating guy, so funny and bright. We loved the script and we took a chance on him [for the lead].'

But that decision may not have seemed entirely wise for Winkler - as it led to an epic battle over the movie. 

In the ring: Irwin Winkler and Sylvester Stallone on the set of Rocky. The actor tried sparring with a real boxer for his fight scenes - but it was Carl Weather, the NFL star, who got the part when he read his lines with Stallone then told Winkler: 'I would do much better if I had the real actor reading with me.'

Unbeaten: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Apollo Creed (Carl Weather) in the ring in the movie - but it was the fight with the studio to have Rocky made which went through round after round

'It became a little complicated because United Artists, the studio where we had our deal, came back to us and said, "Why in the world would we want to pay for a movie that starred an unknown guy called Sylvester Stallone who has a rough life as a fighter and has a love story with an ugly duckling girl?

'"There's nothing here that is appealing to us, and so we're not going to make the movie."'

Winkler's deal with United Artists included a clause which meant they had to make one of their films regardless of their feelings.

'We had an arrangement that if we didn't make a movie within the first five months of our contract with them we had the right to put a picture to them.

'A "put picture" is something where you can make the company finance a movie, whether they like it or not, so long as it is within certain boundaries and budget boundary at the time was nothing more than $1.5 million, if it was more than that they did not have to make it.'

Stallone felt he was going to finally get his dream, but United Artists and their lawyers loathed the project so much they tried to wriggle out again.

'They were pretty adamant about not wanting to make it and what they did is, they put their own budget together for it and came back to us and said the budget would be $2 million therefore it did not qualify as a put picture under our contract.

'By now we were getting really angry with the studio for being so manipulative and so we said we'll do it for $1 million and we'll guarantee personally any more money needed over that $1 million. So they reluctantly said, 'Okay'.'

In a bizarre twist one United Artists executive attempted to hijack the project by buying Stallone's script.

'They went to Stallone behind our back and offered to buy the script for $250,000, which today would be worth a couple of million dollars.

'They wanted it to star Burt Reynolds, James Caan and Ryan O'Neil as the lead roles. At that time, Stallone hadn't a penny to his name, he was a dead broke actor, and he said to them, "No, no, I have a deal with Chartoff-Winkler and they told me that if they agreed to make the movie I would star in it and I'm not going to take your $250k."

'So they were forced to make the movie.'

Winkler was impressed by Stallone's loyalty and had a sixth sense that the then 28-year-old - although not a conventional Hollywood leading man - was a unique talent.

'What Sly had was determination. Back then we didn't know he was going to become the talent that he turned out to be.

'There was nothing more to his acting that a hundred other actors couldn't do, but we liked the script and we thought it was a nice little film. We didn't think it would be this phenomenon 40 years later.

One shot: The famous scene of Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum was not expected to happen - Stallone simply ran up them as they filmed other scenes. It was shot in one take - like the rest of the movie

Back again: In Creed, Rocky takes his young protege, Adonis Johnson, played by Michael B Jordan, to the same place

'But because we got angry at the studio we decided to hold on to our contract and make a movie and we liked Sly's determination and they offered him this money to sell out and he didn't want to do it, but we had no idea it would turn out to be what it was.'

United kept putting financial restraints on Stallone and Winkler, who were also struggling with casting the key characters.

Stallone failed in his bids to get Susan Sarandon, Cher and Bette Midler to portray shy introverted pet shop worker Adrienne - sister of his alcoholic best pal Pauly.

'They settled on Carrie Snodgrass, but her agent wanted too much money and Sly even offered his salary,' said Winkler.

Two days before shooting Talia Shire auditioned, and Stallone admitted at the time: 'She is a bingo not even a maybe. I felt the earth move.'

Stallone, who earned $75,000 for writing and starring in the screenplay, then tried sparring with real life boxers to play Apollo Creed.

He even tried boxing with Joe Frazier but after needing four stitches from 11 seconds in the ring, he decided against the idea of hiring a real boxer.

'Bingo': 'I felt the earh move,' Stallone told Winkler when they auditioned Talia Shire for the role of Adrianna 'Adrian' Pennino, after being unable to afford Carrie Sodgrass.

Against the odds: Burt Young as Paulie Pennino and Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa - a combination the studio did not want the movie going public to see

However, former NFL star Carl Weathers made an impression on Stallone immediately during his audition. As he read his lines with the unknown Stallone, he told Winkler: 'I would do much better if I had the real actor reading with me'.

Stallone decided he liked Weathers' arrogance and hired him.

Director John G. Avildsen helped Stallone deal with the pressures as the studio demanded that it be filmed in 25 days.

The budget now reduced to $950,000, Winkler and Stallone made a money move that has changed the way movies were shot forever.

With no money for traditional dollies, tracks and expensive camera cars, they hired a young Philadelphia cameraman Garrett Brown to create striking visuals for peanuts using a Steadicam.

'Garrett introduced himself with his Steadicam rig and we decided that we wanted to use it. And Rocky was the first time that Steadicam had ever been used in a movie.

'That gave us a lot more freedom. We didn't have a camera truck that we could put a camera on the back of because it would have bounced too much. Without this equipment we would never have made Rocky.'

Brown and an exhausted Stallone spent hours shooting Rocky's training and fight sequences around Philadelphia on his new camera.

Fans have loved Stallone's gym sessions and montages, but the most famous moment of them all - running through Philadelphia and finally, up the Art Museum stairs to stretch his arms out in triumph - was simply 'another shot'.

Winkler laughed: 'I think we were just shooting him running through the streets that day, we had no intention of doing that, so it was just a lucky piece of film. He decided to run up the steps and we had the Steadicam available so we did it.'

Winkler remembered how tight they were with money.

'We had one very small Winnebago which was used as Sly's dressing room, the production office, the wardrobe department, it was the technical truck and it was the honey wagon, so if anyone needed to go to the toilet, they had to use Sly's changing room to do it.

'We didn't even have a caterer, we would just find a pizza parlor and someone would go in and order the whole crew some pizzas, burgers or Philly steaks so that the rest of us could keep working. We also had a principle vehicle, which was also a below the line cinema-mobile which was one truck that became the camera truck, the rig truck, the electric truck, the generator all in one vehicle.'

With the movie completed, Stallone and Winkler were proud of their end product - the studio bosses less so.

New incarnation: In Creed it is Michael B Jordan who plays the boxing hopeful, coached by a lonely Rocky Balboa. Jordan's character is the secret son of Apollo Creed, Rocky's late friend and former rival

During early presentations of 'rushes' - the first from the set, United's bosses tried to axe the movie.

Inexplicably they confused Stallone, a 'slurring, bulky actor' with his blonde handsome co-star Perry King from their movie Lords Of the Flatbush.

'When we showed up with Stallone they asked, 'Who is that guy? We thought we were shooting a movie with Perry King?' recalls Winkler.

'They thought that we'd made the movie with the wrong actor.'

Then they were only granted two movie theater screens - LA and New York - across the US when it opened on November 21, 1976.

And to make matters worse the New York Times gave the movie a poor review and described Stallone as 'unconvincing'.

Winkler recalls: 'Sly, myself and my wife saw the crowds were coming in pretty good in Manhattan, it was only a 120 seat theater, it wasn't a big theater. But we did good business.

'That evening I got an early copy of the New York Times and it was a terrible, terrible review of the movie and I thought, 'Oh boy, that's the end of that. All our hopes have turned to ash,' because the New York Times was so important in those days.

'I was pretty upset, standing in the wind and cold and my friend actor Peter Falk, came out of the theater and he came over and he said, 'Geez, congratulations, the picture's really great!' And I said, 'Peter, look at this review in the New York Times, it's going to destroy us!' And he said, 'Irwin, go in the theater, people in there are standing and cheering! That's more important than what the New York Times says.' So that gave me a little boost.'

The movie then opened in several more theaters and within a few weeks Rocky was a stand out hit, which then garnered 10 Oscar nominations, winning three - best picture, editing and director.

Within a few weeks United Artists, now delighted that the movie had made over $225 million worldwide, called Stallone back for a sequel.

Stallone demanded one million dollars salary with five percent of the gross.

After months of stalling they caved in, Rocky 2 was made for $7 million and grossed over $200 million worldwide with Stallone as director, star and writer.

Winkler and Stallone oversaw huge financial success with 1982's Rocky III and IV, although he almost died in the ring with Dolph Lundgren.

The star spent five days in hospital intensive care when Dolph's punch to his chest dislodged his heart.

Family: Sylvester Stallone with (from left) Sistine Rose Stallone, Jennifer Flavin, Sophia Rose Stallone and Scarlet Rose Stallone, at the Los Angeles premiere of Creed

Stallone planned to kill Rocky in 1989 with his fifth movie, but studio execs warned him 'never to kill the hero.'

After another critical mauling, Stallone shocked Winkler by pushing for Rocky VI.

'We all thought that V was the end of Rocky Balboa and the saga had gone as far as it could go.

'I was not happy about doing Rocky Balboa.

'Rocky V was not a very good movie and I didn't want to make another one at that point.

'Sly then convinced me and we made Rocky Balboa and to my surprise it was really a big success. It created a great deal of fandom and a lot of people liked it. So then I said, 'Ok, we went out with a hit. Isn't that great?'

However, two years ago, Stallone and Winkler decided to go back to Rocky with a new twist.

The new Creed movie sees a lonely Rocky - played by Stallone, now 69 -  agree to mentor and train one-time rival, then best friend Apollo Creed's illegitimate son, played by Michael B. Jordan as he bids to become a champion. (Creed was killed off in Rocky IV)

'If you look at the credits, Sly is billed second in line to Michael B. Jordan. So it's really Michael's starring movie.

'Sly plays an incredible supporting part, but he is really an incredible actor, you have never seen Sly act like this. He really is top gun.'

Winkler even reckons that Oscar success may come again forty years on from Stallone's first nomination.

'He gives a great performance, so it would be nice to come back and get nominated for Supporting Actor now, forty years later. He's wonderful in the film. I don't know who else is out there and there are a lot of films that are still to come out, but he's really terrific in the movie and he certainly deserves consideration.'

Winkler also insists that despite popular perception - Stallone is nothing like his Rocky character.

He said: 'Sly is very articulate and very, very smart. He's certainly not the lonely Rocky Balboa that you saw in Rocky Balboa. 

'Sly is a man that has a family, he has great kids, he's got a wonderful wife, life and he's very, very successful. The fact people think that just proves what a good actor Sly is.'