Sylvester Stallone is now the same age as Burgess Meredith was in the first ROCKY film, and the actor finds it very fitting that the character of Rocky Balboa has now come full circle from the young underdog to the grizzled mentor. "Isn't that weird?" Stallone said. "I'm the guy who's knocking on the door going, 'Hey, kid.' It's an unbelievable feeling. I'm very proud of it." Stallone spoke with The LA Times where he discussed returning to his famous role in the upcoming CREED, which will see Rocky reluctantly agreeing to train Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), the son of his former friend and rival Apollo Creed.
When director Ryan Coogler first approached Sylvester Stallone to pitch him CREED, the actor wasn't very amenable to the idea:
I was dead set against it, I just didn't ever see taking this character into this realm. Finally my agent said, 'For a guy who played Rocky, you're kind of a chicken.'
Stallone finally came around to Coogler's idea, saying "there are certain things I'm allowed to say through Rocky that I can't say through Rambo or anyone else, Rocky is very preachy. He's just always talking. That's what Rocky really is: a springboard for the way I see life or wish life was." Ryan Coogler has always been a fan of both Sylvester Stallone and the Rocky character, and one of the biggest surprises among meeting Stallone was finding out how different he was from Rocky Balboa.
I watched all these Stallone movies growing up in the '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, as soon as I met him, I realized he's the exact opposite. He doesn't walk like Rocky, he doesn't move like Rocky, his personality is totally different — the only thing that's recognizable is the voice. I remember thinking, 'This dude is a phenomenal actor to pull off that character and have it be so natural.' I feel he's been underused.
Sylvester Stallone has appeared in many films over his long career, and he'd be the first to admit that not all of them were winners; in fact, he goes one step further, saying that ROCKY was the one thing he's done right in his life:
Rocky is the one thing I've done right. I'd say my life is about 96% failures, but if you just get that 4% right, that's all you need.
I think you're being a little hard on yourself there Sylvester, but hopefully we can add CREED to that 4% once it opens in theaters on November 25, 2015.