Henry Winkler Almost Sold the ‘Rocky’ Script to ABC as a Television Movie
The Oscar-winning franchise about the Italian Stallion boxer might have only been on the small screen.
Here’s a “Sway in the Morning” exclusive: “Rocky” could have been just a made-for-TV movie.
The Oscar-winning franchise about the Italian Stallion boxer started out as a script given to Henry Winkler by his friend Sylvester Stallone, the film’s star and writer.
“He came to Hollywood, his car broke down on Sunset Boulevard, he called me up, I went to get he and his wife Sasha and their bull mastiff dog, left the car with all their belongings, took him to the apartment he rented, he gave me a script because I was doing the Fonz by then, and I took it to ABC and sold it as a television movie,” Winkler told host Sway Calloway on Wednesday.
But when the network wanted someone else to rework the story, Sly changed his mind.
“I said, ‘ABC, I’m giving you back the money, I need that script back,’ and I gave it back to him, and it became ‘Rocky,'” Winkler said. “And that is the honest truth.”
Winkler also discussed why he didn’t love Pinky, played by Roz Kelly, as a love interest for Fonzie on Happy Days. (Hint: “We had no chemistry whatsoever.”)
“Sway in the Morning” airs weekdays at 8am on Shade 45.
