AFTER nine years, Sylvester Stallone puts on his boxing gloves again as Rocky Balboa. This time, however, the veteran actor’s new film will not be focussing on the glorified boxer that moviegoers have adored and followed.
Stallone’s new starrer, “Creed,” centers on a young boxer Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), the illegitimate son of Rocky’s late best friend and rival Apollo Creed, and his pursuit of his dream of becoming a world-class fighter.
It is directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler, who made “Fruitvale Station” in 2013.
In his determination to make it in boxing, Creed eagerly looks for Balboa to ask him to be his mentor.
The former boxing champ hesitates but accepts the assignment because Creed reminds him of his starting days on the sport.
“I grew up watching ‘Rocky’ movies with my dad. It was our thing,” Coogler said.
Instead of focusing on Balboa, Coogler wanted to put light on the life of Creed since he was his favorite character in the franchise.
Because of this, he came up in creating a brand new character that has never been seen nor mentioned in any “Rocky” films—Adonis, the illegitimate child of Creed.
The producers of the film think that idea of Coogler is a surprise because “he wasn’t spinning off a character that we have already known, he was inventing an entirely new one.”
Coogler sought the approval of Stallone in making him appear again on the big screen as Rocky. The filmmaker took a lot of courage in pitching the film to the award-winning actor because during their first meeting, he hasn’t made any full-length film yet.
Stallone eventually agreed in doing “Creed” and even became a producer of the film.
Coogler recalled, “I could tell he (Stallone) was a little apprehensive.”
“I hadn’t even made a feature film yet, so he was probably thinking, ‘Who is this kid coming in talking about making a ‘Rocky’ movie?’ But I could tell he was also thinking about every different way it could work.”
Aside from Stallone and Jordan, “Creed” also features Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Anthony Bellew and Graham McTavish.
The movie had a successful commercial run in the United States. Stallone’s performance in the film earned him the National Board of Review’s Best Supporting Actor award.
“Creed” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and is now showing in Philippine cinemas.
