The Rocky spinoff, Creed, is coming out soon, with the main character, Apollo Creed’s son, being played by the Human Torch/Wallace a.k.a Michael B. Jordan. He definitely fits the bill for leading the best Rocky movie since the original, but it can be hard comparing him to the iconic actors from the first film in the Rocky collection. You know, the one which stars Bette Midler as Adrian and Harvey Keitel as Paulie, probably showing off his peen way before Bad Lieutenant.
…Wait, that’s not how the movie went down? Oh yeah, I’m remembering the time that Rocky almost had an entirely different cast. Actually, it was a few times.
Let’s start from the beginning: When Sylvester Stallone shopped around his script for the original movie, one of his only conditions was that he play the titular role. This came at odds with producer Irwin Winkler, who offered Stallone $300,000 for the script as long as someone else took the lead. Winkler envisioned Robert Redford or James Caan, but Stallone refused, insisting that he be the star.
When Stallone did find a studio willing to cast him, the role of Apollo Creed was offered to heavyweight champion, Ken Norton. He turned it down to appear in the NBC show, The Superstars, leaving the slot open for stew-loving Carl Weathers. Susan Sarandon, Cher, Bette Midler and Harvey Keitel were other big names that auditioned or were offered characters, but luckily the film found the right cast and made the movie we’ve all come to know.
Could you imagine Rocky with a different cast? If we’re talking could-have-been here, I would have preferred the movie with an all robot butler cast.
