Rocky III

Top 10 Fun Facts

1. It's all relative: Thunderlips is billed as being 7 feet tall, although Hulk Hogan is only 6'6". That's because Rocky Balboa was originally touted as a 6'1" fighter, while Sylvester Stallone is only 5'10". Gotta keep the illusion alive! (Oh. Whoops).
2. Sly may not be as tall as his alter ego, but he's every bit as lean and mean - Stallone claims his body fat was a mere 2.8 percent while shooting Rocky III.
3. When Hulk Hogan initially received an offer to appear in the movie, he thought some of his wrestling buddies were pulling his leg. It took a certified letter from Sylvester Stallone to convince him otherwise.
4. Pro-wrestling is trickier than it looks, even when it's fake: the crew needed ten days to shoot the exhibition match between Rocky and Thunderlips.
5. Survivor's single "Eye of the Tiger" has become Rocky's iconic theme song, but Stallone originally wanted to use Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." Come to think of it, "Bohemian Rhapsody" would've been pretty cool, too.
6. The scene featuring Rocky Balboa on "The Muppet Show" was taken from footage of Sylvester Stallone's real-life appearance with Kermit and friends in 1979. In fact, Jim Henson (Kermit's creator and voice) dubbed in Rocky's name over Stallone's for the movie.
7. Family ties: the groupie who asks Rocky for a kiss during his public training session was played by Sasha Czack - Sylvester Stallone's first wife.
8. Mr. T made his big screen debut in Rocky III, after beating 1,200 other auditioners for the role of Clubber Lang. We mean "beating" figuratively... right?
9. Here's looking at you, Mick: we finally learn that the last name of Rocky's beloved trainer Mickey is Goldmill, when Rocky visits the cemetery where Mickey is buried.
10. Rocky III held the box office record for biggest opening weekend for a movie released in less than 1,000 theaters, until Fahrenheit 9/11 came along and stole the title. It's sort of like Mr. T and Michael Moore are basically the same guy.

Cast

Crew