Rocky

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  • Rocky

    Did Stallone write this himself? Or was uncredited work done by a pro? The info on the internet just says it went through 9 further drafts and that Stallone was writing for free but damn, it's a great script. Just read it today, very tight, very evocative and very surprising (if it was Stallone). I don't think Sly's a chump but this writing game is hard and he knocked it out of the park.
    M.A.G.A.

  • #2
    Re: Rocky

    He wrote it. Turned down offers because he demanded to play the lead role. Probably why he had to do freewrites.

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    • #3
      Re: Rocky

      Here's a fragment of an interview where Stallone discusses this:

      Code:
      [B][I]Then you wrote Rocky in three and a half furious days, in a continuous
      ‘‘heat,’’ with your wife typing the manuscript. Is the legend true?[/I][/B]
      
      STALLONE: Yes, it is. I had this opportunity with Chartoff and Winkler,
      and I wasn’t going to let it slip by. I was young, and I had an incredible
      amount of energy, and I wrote it in a fury. I was very excited about the
      whole thing. I had a feel for the streets, and I loved films like Mean Streets,
      and Marty, and On the Waterfront, and I felt inspired.
      
      [B][I]Now when you first gave the new script to Chartoff and Winkler, they appa
      rently suggested a few changes?[/I]
      [/B] 
      STALLONE: That’s right. The original draft was only about eighty-nine
      pages long, and it was rather hastily thrown together. At that point, Rocky
      wasn’t really Rocky yet. He was much harder, more caustic, and his face
      was heavily damaged from all the blows he’d taken. As for Adrian, she was
      Jewish in the first draft, with a brother and a mother, and the mother
      couldn’t stand Rocky for all kinds of reasons: he was Italian, he was poor,
      he was semi-punchy, and he was a low-level gangster. Also, the mother
      really didn’t want her daughter to get married and leave her. She wanted to
      keep her right where she was, as a kind of permanent indentured servant.
      So, at that point, with the suggestions of the producers, the two main characters
      started to change. Rocky became a much nicer guy, rather naive,
      even sweet in a way, and he was much less of a thug, and more on the
      fringes of the mob. Eventually, Adrian also became Italian, and her mother
      was cut out, and the brother took over the role of the needy relative who
      didn’t want to lose her—and who only suggests that Rocky take his sister
      out on a date because he wants a job.
      
      [B][I]I’ve read that Mickey was a blatant racist in the first draft?[/I]
      [/B] 
      STALLONE: He was, and it was very overdone, so I changed it.
      
      [B][I]Also, in the original script, Rocky actually ‘‘threw’’ the fight. What was that
      all about?[/I][/B]
      
      STALLONE: Well, this was the original story line: Rocky was, quite willingly,
      being used as a promotional gimmick by the champion, and, at the
      beginning, Mickey says, ‘‘Look, kid, the champ’s getting along in years,
      and if you train right, you can give him a good fight.’’ But, of course, in real
      life, people only truly reveal themselves when they’re under great pressure—
      where they’re so desperate they can’t hide their true character anymore. So,
      during the title fight, as Rocky starts to hurt Apollo, Mickey’s bloodlust
      rises up. He’s suddenly on the cusp of being the manager of the heavyweight
      champion of the world, and he starts salivating at the idea that he’s
      finally about to get some respect and recognition, and his true character
      comes out. Suddenly, he can’t contain himself, and he starts yelling at
      Rocky, ‘‘Kill that black bastard!’’ But Rocky is put off—he starts to realize
      what’s really going on. He senses it in Mickey and in the whole crowd, ‘‘Kill
      him! Kill him!’’ and he’s turned off by all the bloodlust, and the underlying
      racism, and he realizes that it’s not really what he wants. He actually starts
      feeling sorry for the older champion who’s given him his break, even while
      he continues to pound the guy. It’s like that Damon Runyon story ‘‘Bred
      for Battle.’’ Or it’s like the time that Marciano beat the aging Joe Louis. So
      Rocky says to himself, ‘‘I’ve already proved myself, but I don’t want to be
      part of this, and if I beat this man, I am part of it. So he takes a dive. He
      goes down intentionally, and when he hits the canvas he cuts himself, and
      the fight is stopped—or he loses by decision, I can’t remember—but he’s
      content. He’s got his self-respect, and he takes his money, and he and
      Adrian buy the pet shop at the end of the script.
      (From the book "Classic American Films. Conversations with the Screenwriters" by William Baer -- great read, btw.)

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      • #4
        Re: Rocky

        Thanks, guys.
        M.A.G.A.

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        • #5
          Re: Rocky

          Wow, Stallone's original storyline(s) for Rocky sound just as compelling as the finished product.

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          • #6
            Re: Rocky

            Originally posted by Kenneth Fisher View Post
            Wow, Stallone's original storyline(s) for Rocky sound just as compelling as the finished product.
            I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not.
            M.A.G.A.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Rocky

              A bit darker and bit less commercial, perhaps? If you liked it, check out the book: http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Americ...+screenwriters

              Here's a list of the interviews:

              -"Singin' in the Rain" (1952): A Conversation with Betty Comden and Adolph Green

              -"On the Waterfront" (1954): A Conversation with Budd Schulberg

              -"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955): A Conversation with Stewart Stern

              -"North by Northwest" (1959): A Conversation with Ernest Lehman

              -"Psycho" (1960): A Conversation with Joseph Stefano

              -"Hud" (1963): A Conversation with Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr.

              -"The Sound of Music" (1965): A Conversation with Ernest Lehman

              -"The Wild Bunch" (1969): A Conversation with Walon Green

              -"American Graffiti" (1973): A Conversation with Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck

              -"The Sting" (1973): A Conversation with David S. Ward

              -"The Exorcist" (1973): A Conversation with William Peter Blatty

              -"Jaws" (1975): A Conversation with Carl Gottlieb

              -"Rocky" (1976): A Conversation with Sylvester Stallone

              -"Tender Mercies" (1983): A Conversation with Horton Foote

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              • #8
                Re: Rocky

                Nice, I will check it out!

                I agree, sounds like the original would've been pretty good too - maybe better as a novel though.
                www.JustinSloanAuthor.com

                http://www.CreativeWritingCareer.com
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                Twitter: @JustinMSloan

                Want a free book?

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                • #9
                  Re: Rocky

                  Originally posted by SundownInRetreat View Post
                  I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not.
                  It's not sarcasm. It's too easy to become jaded by internet forum discourse.

                  The original storyline of Rocky as a thug who takes dives and ends up taking a dive that he didn't have to so he doesn't become entrenched in a terrible system, while at the same time disavowing racism - it's intriguing and powerful.

                  And if you think about it, even though the script was eventually changed, the producers and execs found it intriguing and powerful as well, because it became a hot script and it gave Stallone the leverage to demand the starring role for himself.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Rocky

                    I'm just happy that the changes the prods made were sound and improved the story (IMO). Ahhh, the glory days of the 70s - when the powers-that-be actually cared about the story as well as money. One can only shudder at the thought of the producer's notes if the film was being made today. The first one would be: "what's this? Rocky's 30 years old? No, no, no! Get me Zac Efron!"
                    M.A.G.A.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Rocky

                      I'm intrigued to read Sly's Bev Hills Cop script now.
                      M.A.G.A.

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