Sylvester Stallone vents against ‘pathetic’ producer over new Rocky spin-off
On Saturday, producers of the Rocky franchise announced that they were developing a spin-off titled Drago, focused on Ivan Drago, a popular character from Rocky IV.
However, the development hasn’t gone down too well with the creator and star of the original Rocky series–Sylvester Stallone. The veteran action star termed the announcement as “another heartbreaker”, criticising the producers.
The comments come barely a week after he had criticised Irwin Winkler, the producer behind the series for allegedly denying him the rights to the franchise for almost five decades now. Stallone had written and starred in the first Rocky film, which released in 1976 and spawned several sequels and a spin-off series in Creed.
Taking to Instagram on Saturday, Stallone lambasted Winkler and his children without taking names. “Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out…once again pathetic 94-year-old producer and his selfish useless children are once again picking what is left off the bones of another wonderful character!!! (sic),” the 76-year-old actor wrote about Drago, the character played by Dolph Lundgren in the series. “Seriously, how do you weasels look in mirror???” he added.
Earlier this week, MGM Studios announced Drago, which will focus on Dolph’s Russian boxer of the same name, which he portrayed in 1985’s Rocky IV, as well as his son Viktor Drago (played by Florian Munteanu), who debuted in Creed II. Creed series, starring Michael B Jordan, is itself a spin-off to Stallone’s iconic Rocky franchise.
In his post, Stallone also apologised to his fans. “I am sorry to the fans, I apologize to the fans. I never wanted Rocky to be exploited for this greed .. # no shame #sad day #Parasite (sic),” he added.
Rocky is based on the rise and fall of boxer Rocky Balboa. The first film, which also starred Carl Weathers, Talia Shire, and Burt Young, is regarded as one of the greatest sports films of all time. It was followed by the sequels Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1990), and Rocky Balboa (2006). The spin-off Creed was released in 2015 and its sequel Creed II in 2018.
Creed III, the ninth film in the franchise will release later this year. The film, which marks Michael’s directorial debut, is the first not to feature Sylvester on screen. He is, however, serving as a producer. The film is slated to be released on November 23.