Want to know just how far ahead of the #OscarsSoWhite curve Sylvester Stallone was as a director? Consider this bit of IMDb trivia for his 1978 behind-the-camera debut Paradise Alley:
Stallone told People magazine that his original idea for this script was to make all the main characters African-American. He could not find the financing for the film until he starred in it himself and changed the other characters to Italian-Americans.
Stallone wanted Al Pacino for the co-lead role of Lenny Carbioni, one of three brothers living in 1940s-era Hell’s Kitchen.
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