Sylvester Stallone is known to put his heart and soul when it comes to his movies. Being a passionate actor and equally passionate storyteller, Stallone’s dedication has led to several memorable movies being made. The illustrious star has also invested a lot of his fortune in his movies.
Back in the ’90s, after his huge success he came back with a low-budget action film called Cliffhanger. However, the film blew up, particularly because of its action scenes and interesting storyline. Stallone even invested about $1,000,000 to make the film a cult classic.
Sylvester Stallone Invested $1,000,000 To Make His Movie A Commercial Success
Cliffhanger was not expected to blow out of proportion when it was in the making. It was supposed to be a low-key action movie that had a heist-based story. Even though he was afraid of heights, Sylvester Stallone took on the role and made a magnificent action film that turned out to be one of his most popular cult-classic. Made with a budget of just about $70 million, the movie grossed over $255 million across the globe.
After the shoot, a sneak preview was held with a test audience to know where the movie lacked and where edits and cuts were required, if any. In one scene it featured a rabbit getting killed by heavy gunfire. The test audience reacted very badly to the scene since the rabbit actually died a tragic death. Hence, Sylvester Stallone invested over $100,000 from his savings so that the scene could be re-shot. The new scene, which can be viewed in the movie, had the rabbit escaping unharmed.
Not only did he invest this huge amount for a re-shoot of a simple scene, but he also had his fee reduced for the shoot of the world’s costliest and most dangerous aerial stunt sequence.
Sylvester Stallon Reduced His Fee For Cliffhanger’s Epic Stunt
The film Cliffhanger featured the world’s costliest, and most terrifying stunt ever performed. The stunt man Simon Crane was paid over a million dollars to perform an aerial stunt between two jets at a height of over 15,000 feet without any safety harness. Featured in the Guinness World Record, Crane was refused insurance by the insurance company.
In such a situation, Sylvester Stallone quickly came to his rescue and had his fee reduced drastically so that the stunt could go on without any hindrance. Despite rehearsal, the shoot almost had Simon Crane killed, but thankfully his presence of mind and the parachute he had concealed in his clothes came to the rescue. And thus, the world’s one of the most iconic harness-free stunts was shot.