“I was ready to go, but I knew the only way it would work was the two of us. This was the best outcome for De Niro, who could only picture Stallone in the boxing ring with him. I talked to my wife and said, ‘Maybe it would be interesting to take the good baggage and pit it against another iconic character because it’ll never happen again.'” But Bobby just kept hammering away,” Stallone once told Empire (via Contact Music).Įventually, De Niro would sell Stallone on the idea, which became an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. is relentless, don’t let that quiet demeanor fool you.

And he thought Grudge Match risked tainting it. At the time, he was still protective over the legacy of his Rocky franchise. Stallone wasn’t completely sold on the project when it was first offered to him. This is the beauty of fantasy.” Sylvester Stallone had his doubts about ‘Grudge Match’ I mean, of course, no one’s under any illusions that it’s anything other than that. Here we are in the magical world of boxing where Rocky is fighting Raging Bull. “Movies are enjoyable, but they’re not sacrosanct they’re not sacred cows. “Since those films have pretty well gone the way of extinction, this is some way of realizing them again,” Stallone once told ESPN. But that was far from a negative for the actor. Stallone was well-aware that their roles in Grudge Match could remind fans of Rocky vs. To this day, both Stallone’s Rocky and De Niro’s Raging Bull are considered some of the most influential movies in cinematic history. Stallone and De Niro already both starred in two critically acclaimed boxing movies years before Grudge Match.

Grudge Match was a 2013 sports movie starring Stallone and De Niro as two aging boxers getting back into the ring.

‘Raging Bull’ Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro | Dave J Hogan/Getty Images Sylvester Stallone felt ‘Grudge Match’ was like ‘Rocky’ vs. In 2014, the two veterans would come together to create their own boxing film with Grudge Match.īut initially, Stallone was unsure about collaborating with De Niro on the project. Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro are both known for starring in iconic boxing movies.

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