Desperate For Cash
Before making Rocky, Sly desperately needed funds and agreed to sell his beloved dog for $50. Within a week, he got money from selling his script and got his dog back for $3,000. He said, “I sold my bull-mastiff Butkus to a little person…I got $50 from this guy called Little Jimmy. When I sold the Rocky script, I went to see Little Jimmy and begged for the dog back. He lined up his children, ‘Oh my kids love the dog’. I said, ‘You’ve only had him for a f***ing week.’ He wanted to fight me and said he was gonna kill me – he was a crazy little person. I couldn’t fight him, they’d arrest me, so I offered to pay double. Anyway, $3000 and several threats later…”
Desperate For Cash
Getting Butkus Back
After all that, Sylvester Stallone casted that man, Little Jimmy, in the film in order to get his dog! Stallone explained, “Do you remember in Rocky where the little guy goes, ‘Hey, did ya win?’ and I go, ‘What are you, deaf?’ and he goes, ‘No, I’m short.’ That’s him.” Wild.
Getting Butkus Back