In . No more jogging up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps. No more 鈥淵o, Adrian!鈥 No more one-armed push-ups to the strains of 鈥淕onna Fly Now.鈥 No more Rocky.
After 2006鈥檚 Rocky Balboa, the sixth instalment in the series about the perennial-underdog fighter, Stallone figured he was most likely forever done playing the in the seminal 1976 smash Rocky.
鈥淭hat movie was the toughest sell of all,鈥 the actor recalled of Rocky Balboa on a recent afternoon. 鈥Rocky V was considered a failure financially and critically. Now 15 years have passed. 鈥榊ou want to play a boxer who鈥檚 60 years old 鈥 you鈥檙e joking, right?鈥欌 He let out a low chuckle. 鈥淭his was Max Bialystock territory.鈥 When the film proved a commercial and critical success, earning $156 million worldwide, Stallone figured he should probably quit while he was ahead.
But if we鈥檝e learned anything about the Italian Stallion, it鈥檚 that . It鈥檚 that indomitable spirit that has made him one of the most beloved characters in movie history. (When the American Film Institute ranked the greatest movie heroes in 2003, Rocky came in at No. 7, between Clarice Starling and Ellen Ripley.)
On Nov. 25, audiences will get one more chance to see Stallone reprise the role that launched him to sudden worldwide fame four decades ago. In Creed, a spinoff of the Rocky franchise directed by Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station), the aging Balboa reluctantly agrees to train an up-and-coming fighter named Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), the son of his former rival Apollo Creed. This time, Rocky doesn鈥檛 personally get in the ring; instead, his biggest fight is with his own mortality as he faces a battle with cancer.
At 69, Stallone finds the idea that Rocky has now come full circle 鈥 from small-time lovable loser to world champion to grizzled mentor 鈥 both fitting and strange. 鈥淚鈥檓 now the same age Burgess Meredith was in 鈥楻ocky鈥 鈥 isn鈥檛 that weird?鈥 he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 the guy who鈥檚 knocking on the door going, 鈥楬ey, kid.鈥 It鈥檚 an unbelievable feeling. I鈥檓 very proud of it.鈥
He smiled his crooked smile. 鈥淩ocky is the one thing I鈥檝e done right. I鈥檇 say my life is about 96 per cent failures, but if you just get that 4 per cent right, that鈥檚 all you need.鈥
In person, with his muscles bulging under his shirt, Stallone still looks as though he could lay flat a much younger man. Not that he鈥檇 want to 鈥 like Rocky, he has always been a teddy bear at heart. Before achieving fame, he said, 鈥淚 walked around with a deep-seated inferiority complex.鈥 He still comes across as modest and self-deprecating, aiming his toughest jabs at himself.
Stallone鈥檚 quietly soulful performance in Creed already has some Oscar pundits considering him as a potential supporting actor nominee, but he brushes off that sort of talk. 鈥淐an you imagine? That would be really funny, wouldn鈥檛 it?鈥 Though he was nominated for best actor for the first Rocky as well as for his screenplay, he has often been treated as a punching bag over the years for what some have deemed his limited acting range and tendency to play monosyllabic roles.
And yet, when Stallone has tried to branch out and play against type, he鈥檚 often been smacked down for that as well. In 1997, he received some of the best reviews of his career for his understated turn as a small-town sheriff in the drama Cop Land, but he ultimately felt the film hurt his career. 鈥淚 was hoping it would be a game-changer, but the feedback from the studio was that it confused people,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 mean to confuse people 鈥 I was just trying to stretch. That began a long doldrum.鈥
Over the course of his career, Stallone has appeared in roughly 60 movies 鈥 big hits, big flops and everything in between. But he knows he will always be best known for Rocky and John Rambo, the muscle-bound, machine-gun-toting Vietnam vet he played in four films. For a long time he fought against that, but at a certain point he came to accept it and even see it as a blessing.
鈥淭here are great careers I envy 鈥 like Tom Hanks has done amazing work 鈥 and you just have to give them their kudos,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 wish I鈥檇 had the foresight to have been a little more adventurous a little earlier on. But I get it. Nobody wants to see Bruce Springsteen sing opera. Now I think, 鈥楳y God, did I get lucky.鈥欌
Coogler, 29, grew up with a deep love for the Rocky movies that had been instilled by his father. Still, until he met Stallone in person to pitch him the idea for Creed, which he co-wrote with Aaron Covington, he didn鈥檛 fully appreciate the depth of his talent.
鈥淚 watched all these Stallone movies growing up in the 鈥90s like Demolition Man and Cliffhanger, but he was still Rocky to me, so I went into his office expecting him to be that character,鈥 Coogler said. 鈥淎s soon as I met him, I realized he鈥檚 the exact opposite. He doesn鈥檛 walk like Rocky, he doesn鈥檛 move like Rocky, his personality is totally different 鈥 the only thing that鈥檚 recognizable is the voice. I remember thinking, 鈥楾his dude is a phenomenal actor to pull off that character and have it be so natural.鈥 I feel he鈥檚 been underused.鈥
To say that Stallone 鈥 who had written all six Rocky movies and directed four of them 鈥 was initially resistant to Coogler鈥檚 Creed pitch would be an understatement. 鈥淚 was dead set against it,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 just didn鈥檛 ever see taking this character into this realm. Finally my agent said, 鈥楩or a guy who played Rocky, you鈥檙e kind of a chicken.鈥欌
Eventually, Stallone warmed to the idea of bringing Rocky back for one more round, this time as a kind of ringside Buddha and father figure to a younger fighter. 鈥淭here are certain things I鈥檓 allowed to say through Rocky that I can鈥檛 say through Rambo or anyone else,鈥 he said. 鈥淩ocky is very preachy. He鈥檚 just always talking. That鈥檚 what Rocky really is: a springboard for the way I see life or wish life was.鈥
The fact is, Stallone knows that, even though he brought Rocky into this world, the character doesn鈥檛 just belong to him anymore. He belongs to all the moviegoers who have been inspired by him over the years, to everyone who鈥檚 played 鈥淓ye of the Tiger鈥 to psych themselves up for some challenge, to all those people who, to this day, pose for photos at the top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps with their arms raised in triumph.
鈥淗ow many people run up those steps?鈥 Stallone said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredible. Women who are eight months pregnant. People from different cultures. Intellectuals who have nothing in common with Rocky. They鈥檙e not running for Sylvester Stallone 鈥 I get that. They鈥檙e running for the Rocky in them.鈥
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