Action superstar Sylvester Stallone turned down a request from Mike Tyson to star as his opponent in Rocky Balboa because the actor feared the former boxing champ would kill him.
Stallone did not warm up too easily to getting in the ring with Tyson, reports contactmusic.com. Explaining the denial, Stallone said: "I am still too young to die."
He added: "Mike wanted to fight me in this film but I thought it was a bad idea. I know I'm not that young, but I'm still too young to die.
"I said, 'Thanks, but I don't think that would be a very good idea. Thank you very much.' But he kept calling the office saying he wanted to be in the film fighting me. Eventually, I relented and said he could be in the audience. Then I never heard from him. Suddenly, when I turn up in the ring he's there at the side.
"I turned round and said to the crew, 'Can you make sure you keep that son of a bitch out of the ring. If he gets in he'll kill me.' The man's a killer."
"I turned round and said to the crew, 'Can you make sure you keep that son of a bitch out of the ring. If he gets in he'll kill me.' The man's a killer."