Sly Stallone to Star in Sixth Rocky Movie
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James Joyner | Tuesday, October 18, 2005 |
The sixth installment of the Rocky movie series is set to begin filming next year, starring a then-60-year-old Sly Stallone.
Stallone to Star in Sixth ‘Rocky’ Movie
Yo Adrian! Rocky is planning another comeback. Fifteen years after starring in “Rocky V,” Sylvester Stallone is reprising his role as the boxing champ in the sixth “Rocky” movie, publicist Michelle Bega said Monday. The 59-year-old actor will write and direct “Rocky Balboa,” which will begin shooting in Philadelphia and Las Vegas next year.
Stallone told the Daily Variety trade magazine the movie will focus on an aging, widowed Rocky who is reluctant to get back in the ring but ends up doing it “just to compete, not to win.” “I am drawing on a lot of my feelings that are in sync with many people’s feelings about facing the last chapter of their lives and how they want it to be written,” Stallone said.
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Stallone wrote all the “Rocky” films and directed the second, third and fourth entries. The first movie, released in 1976, won three Oscars, including best picture and best director for John G. Avildsen.
Actually, this could be an interesting film.
I enjoyed all of the Rocky films, with the notable exception of “Rocky V.” Because the later movies were rather formulaic and included such theatric notables as Mr. T and Hulk Hogan, most people forget how good the original was. But even the sequels focused mostly on character, with boxing as merely a driving force to explore the characters’ struggles.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Well, yeah, but how long will it be before Stallone's character has to enter the ring with a walker?
It doesn't sound like he'll be in the ring for this one. The story is apparently about how a former champion boxer deals with no longer being able to do the thing that forged his identity.
Anyone remember the sight-gag in one of the "Airplane" movies that had a movie poster in the background for something like "Rocky XXXV"? It had this really old guy with boxing gloves on. Looks like they were right.
Rocky could start pushing kitchen appliances ala George Foreman. Each accessory could be named "Part I," "Part II," "Part III," etc.
The first date I had with my wife was to see Rocky in 1977. She didn't tell me she had seen it a week before with another guy.
As good as Rocky was, numbers two and three were better, unusual for any sequel, much less two sequels in a row. Rocky III, with the then-unknown Mr. T as antagonist Clubber Lang, has to get my nod as the best of the five Rocky movies because in it Mr. T is not Rocky's opponent. His own fear is his worst enemy, along with his inability to seek his dream any more without the endorsement of those he loves. His fortune has left him insecure and empty. The fight is with himself. Clubber is simply the foil that forces Rocky to face his spiritual dark night of the soul. To triumph over Clubber's fists Rocky must first triumph over his own will and heart.
Yet Adrian, as always, remained the catalyst and indeed the entire point of the whole exercise. In the last two movies, Stalone dropped this vital connection between Rocky's motivation and ability and his wife's steadfastness, and so number four and five were much less compelling.
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