Today, I met Derek after dinner to talk crap and he told me this rather interesting story tt impressed me so much that I decided to put it here. Well, this is the story about Sylvestor Stallone, the actor who we all know who cannot act and who spoke like he got pebbles in his mouth. After hearing this story about how he came by his first movie, I could not help but be impressed by his sheer determination.

The story went that, before he was even born, his mother was so poor that she had to give birth to him not in a hospital proper but in some medical school. During the delivery, the person used some kind of clamps on his head to pull him out of the womb and in the process tearing part of his face muscle. This I heard was why he got problems with speaking. When he grew up, he was really quite broke but he got one unwavering goal and that was to be an actor.

After he got married, he continued to try by going to production sites to get those minor roles but since he wasn't good looking and he couldn't even speak properly he didn't get any chance. His wife then left him and he became so broke that he had to eventually sell his dog which had been his loyal companion to continue living. Still, he would go to the production sites everyday, plant himself there and told the people in charge "I want to act!" He wasn't deterred by the remarks people made about him or thought he was crazy, he would go there everyday and say the same thing, from sunrise to sunset. Then one day, he got inspired by a boxing match between Muhammed Ali and another boxer. The opponent was of course no match for Muhammed Ali but somehow he endured blows after blows for 15 rounds. Thus inspired, Stallone supposedly proceeded to write a story about Rocky, about this boxer who though wasn't the greatest figher in the world has a mountain of determination and willpower.
Having completed the story within 3 days, he brought it to the movie company. The person who went through it was tremendously impressed, thinking that it was a touching and inspiring story and offered to buy it from Stallone to which Stallone said he would only sell it if he could act in it. The person in charge keep upping the bid but Stallone would not budge. He did not care how much he would be paid as long as he could act in it. In the end, the company relented and Stallone hence acted in Rocky but with a very small budget. Well, I need not say that Rocky was a tremendous success, testimonial to Stallone's willpower and his focus on achieving his goal. And guess what? The first thing he did when he got paid was to find back his dog and buy it back from the new owner with ten times the price the owner bought. What a loyal fellow!