When Sylvester Stallone Revealed WHY He Didn't Cast Robert Downey Jr in Film Initially: ‘Don’t Want to Do This Cheap...’

Sylvester Stallone once expressed his wish to cast Robert Downey Jr. in his dream biopic of Edgar Allan Poe. However, the movie never took off. Scroll down to read the details.

Written by Rashi Desai , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Mar 25, 2025 | 07:14 AM GMT | 5.7K

Sylvester Stallone and Robert Downey Jr. via Instagram and Getty Images

Sylvester Stallone had a dream project of making the Edgar Allan Poe biopic and releasing it on the big screen. However, the movie never took off. While there had been multiple reasons at play, one that caught the attention of the fans was that Stallone was waiting for Robert Downey Jr. to get “hot again.” The Rocky alum had approached the Marvel star to portray the lead role in his film, and Downey Jr. had even agreed to play the part until the filmmaker put forth a condition on the table.

Opening up about offering the movie role to the Iron Man star, Stallone revealed to Roger Ebert that he was penning the script at the time. The veteran star shared, “The one thing I’m not gonna do is, I’m not gonna be Eugene O’Neill and write about my private demons. I want to write for the public. My next movie is going to be about three brothers who live in New Jersey. And then there’s one I’m writing about Edgar Allen Poe and his child bride, Virginia.”

He further added that he was only going to make the movie about Poe and not add the reality part to the scenes. Stallone continued to state that he would write about the late author's spirits. The veteran star further stated the reason because no one wishes to watch a two-hour-long film about Allan's realities in a drag.

Meanwhile, in one of the interviews with the entertainment portal in 2006, Downey Jr. also spoke about the claims of him leading the biopic by Stallone. The actor revealed having met with the Rambo star and discussed the project.

However, the Oscar-winning actor revealed, “He said I should wait until I’m hot again. ‘We should wait until you’re hot again so we can do this at a big studio. I don’t want to do this cheap.’”

It has been almost 2 decades since Stallone first opened up about his movie about Allan Poe. The film has not been made yet, but the 78-year-old is not giving up on the project.