A great fighter once said: “It’s not about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
— Adonis Johnson
It takes strength and determination to be a world-class fighter. But for Adonis Johnson, even with boxing in his blood, it will take something more: Rocky Balboa. To step out from the shadow of Apollo Creed, the father he never knew, Adonis must get Rocky back in the ring.
Although the former champ has been out of the fight game for some time, Adonis reminds him of the tough, young upstart he himself once was. After some prodding, Rocky agrees to train him, his way.
The challenge of re-envisioning the ultimate underdog story that began with Rocky was one that writer-director Ryan Coogler considered even before he was out of film school. “I grew up watching Rocky movies with my dad... it was our thing,” he states. “Rocky is a character that people just connect with — action fans, drama fans, hopeless romantics, even just movie fans — everyone likes Rocky movies because they have something for everyone.”
A RELENTLESS RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP ROCKY INTACT
Before Adonis could coax Rocky into coming back, Coogler had to receive Sylvester Stallone’s blessing to work with the character, and the actor’s commitment to put the gloves back on. Stallone, also a producer on the film, has played one of the most legendary and beloved characters in film history in six Rocky films — Rocky (1976), Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1990), Rocky Balboa (2006) — over nearly four decades. He says: “The impression Rocky has left on people is both confounding and extraordinary to me. I’ve always felt a relentless responsibility to keep the character intact because of that. So when Ryan came to me with the idea of Adonis Creed coming into the picture, I thought it was incredible, this filmmaker who is so young and yet so captivated by what we’d begun all those years ago. I admit… I was intrigued.”
Coogler smiles when recalling his first meeting with the icon. “I could tell he 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.’”
The filmmaker also mentioned the idea to his Fruitvale Station star, Michael B. Jordan, during production on that film. Jordan recalls, “Ryan is so talented, such a smart guy and so great to work with, so when he first mentioned the project to me I thought it sounded great, and that if it ever happened I’d definitely want to do it. Then over time, as it started to get real and I became more invested, I began looking at the situation like, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of responsibility... this is the 40-year legacy of Rocky’.”
Leaning into its legacy, Coogler wanted Creed to evoke the gritty, old-school style of the earliest Rocky films while also forging its own modern-day identity. It was important to him to do justice to the characters, to create a film that could cross the divide between Baby Boomers and Millennials, knowing the property could appeal to an equal number of fans in both generations and everyone in between.
The fact that, for the first time, a story about Rocky Balboa was not penned by Stallone could have been cause for concern among the two production entities who compose the banner Chartoff Winkler, the principals being Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler. The pair produced the original Rocky, which was nominated for 10 Oscars and won three, including Best Picture.
UNCLE, IF I FIGHT YOU FIGHT
“We all felt like we were going out in style with Rocky Balboa, which was very well received,” says Winkler. “Little did I know there was a young man with an idea for a whole new way to tell this story.”
Producer Charles Winkler grew up with the Rocky franchise in the family and served as executive producer and second-unit director on Rocky Balboa. He offers: “I think Ryan’s idea was so solid that we all acknowledged this was the way to take it in a new direction and present it to a new generation. It’s been fascinating to watch the torch being passed.”
One who has boxing in his DNA, a gift from a fighting god. Who better to help Adonis take that gift and hone it into a talent worthy of the title than another former champion who was also his father’s best friend? Who else would Adonis turn to but the one person who not only could help him with his career, but also provide insight into the father who was absent and yet an almost oppressive presence in his life?
Coogler says, “Adonis has never had a father or father figure... I wanted to explore what it would be like to reach out for that as a grown man. Rocky had Mickey (played by Burgess Meredith), so it’s something he would’ve been familiar with, the way a coach or trainer can be something like a parent to a young athlete.”
If Rocky wasn’t planning to ever get back in the fight game, he was certainly not expecting another Creed to show up at his door, even one reluctant to use the name. But that’s not the only surprise in store for him once he lets Adonis — Donnie, as he calls him — into his life. “If I fight, you fight,” Donnie says to his newfound mentor, “uncle” and friend. But it’s up to Rocky to decide how much fight he has left in him.”
Coogler states: “I knew I wanted to follow Apollo Creed’s family, because he was my favourite character from the Rocky franchise, and Carl Weathers’ performance (as Apollo Creed) was so incredible...
he played him with the same confidence that (Muhammad) Ali had. I liked how intellectual, how in control of his own destiny that character was always shown to be.”
Taking on the mantle of the up-and-comer with a lot to live up to, Jordan says that Adonis “has always struggled with his sense of identity, not knowing his dad growing up, losing his mom. He was small for his age, talked a big game, and was always getting into fights. He bounced around from foster home to foster home in LA, and wound up in some not-so-good places before he was adopted by Mary Anne Creed. Suddenly, he was living in a really nice place, but inside, he didn’t really fit in there either. He still had that urge to lash out, not really understanding who he was.”
HE FIGHTS FOR PRIDE
The director had no doubt Jordan would explore the subtleties of Adonis’s inner turmoil while also taking on the physical rigours required of the part. “I always knew that if I ever made this film, I’d want Mike in the role. He’s so talented, he’s got a crazy work ethic, he’s committed and dedicated, and takes a lot of pride in his work. He’s one of those guys that, if he’s interested in doing something, you do it with him.”
If Adonis wants to quit fighting across the border in Mexico, and if, out of respect for Mary Anne, no one in Los Angeles will train him, he figures he can do the next best thing. He leaves the comfort of the Creed mansion for Philadelphia…and Rocky Balboa.
But Rocky makes it clear he’s not interested in going back to that world and Jordan says: “That just because his father’s Apollo Creed doesn’t mean he’ll become a world champion. It takes a lot of hard work.”
But the wholly self-trained Adonis doesn’t shy away from hard work... he’s ready to knuckle down. That says a lot to someone like Rocky, who decides to take him on despite his misgivings.
Having created Rocky Balboa and played him in six prior incarnations, Stallone slipped easily back into the role, eager to explore the character in this phase of his life, when he’s presented with this unexpected opportunity. “Even though the character comes out of me, I wish I was able to be more like him,” Stallone laughs. “He’s the epitome of patience, there’s not a mean bone in his body and, though he’s very competitive, he fights for pride.”
“Sly knows Rocky better than anybody, and he knows more about the sport of boxing and how to make a movie about it than I ever could,” Coogler says. “We’d be writing scenes and I’d call and ask him: ‘What would Rocky do here?’ If I had ideas, he’d be the first person I’d call. If he had an idea, he’d call me. He was so generous. It was a great collaboration.”
“Boxing, probably like most other sports, is about 80 per cent in your head,” Stallone surmises. “You can be defeated before you walk out of the dressing room. That’s why a good corner man has to be a psychoanalyst, right on the spot. He’s got to hold his guy together. It’s a pretty extraordinary occupation, and I thought it was a great place for Rocky to go — to take everything he’s known from all his years as a fighter and give it to this kid.”
Will you watch Creed just for Stallone? Tell t2@abp.in
