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.
Rocky
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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.
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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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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.
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Re: Rocky
Originally posted by SundownInRetreat View PostI can't tell if that's sarcasm or not.
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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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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