©Courtesy of Warner Brothers. 

In an interview with GQ published last week, Sylvester Stallone explained he was hesitant to reprise his iconic role of Rocky Balboa in Creed  because he objected to director/co-writer Ryan Coogler’s plan to kill off the character at the end.

In the interview, Stallone was quoted as saying: “I was never comfortable [with that idea]. I dodged that bullet for two years, three years. And Ryan Coogler was very persistent, kept pushing it. And we had the same agent, but I didn’t want to do it because the way he had written it, Rocky dies. He gets Lou Gehrig’s disease. And I said, ‘I have a big thing about characters like that dying. I’d much rather them get on a train going somewhere and you never see ’em again. But to die it will just bum the audience out completely.’ So once we got over that, I said, ‘Ok, we’ll give it a shot.’

As a result of Stallone’s objections, Coogler dropped the idea of having Rocky Balboa succumb to Lou Gehrig’s disease (also known as ALS). Instead, Coogler and co-screenwriter Aaron Covington rewrote the script to portray the boxer as a survivor of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

 

That strategy sat well with Stallone, who said the role provided the opportunity for him to do some “dramatic acting, ‘cause I couldn’t use my body. I’m not fighting. So that was a good challenge. And it turned out pretty well.”

For his work in Creed, Stallone ultimately won a Golden Globe award and a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 88th Academy Awards. The actor praised Michael B. Jordan’s performance in the film, claiming they were both “psychologically invested” in the story. Jordan ultimately starred in Creed II (2018) and Creed III (2023), and is slated for a starring role in Creed IV, though a release date has not yet been announced. Stallone did not appear in Creed III, having made his final appearance in Creed II, when his iconic character was seen reuniting with his estranged son and meeting his grandson for the first time.

In the GQ interview, Stallone also expressed his regret that three of his films—Cobra, Tango & Cash, and Demolition Man—never became franchises. Currently, Stallone is producing I Play Rocky, a film about the creation of the original movie in 1976.

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