Sylvester Stallone's Blunt Reaction To The Expendables 4's Failure: "A F****** Disaster!"

From a Philly Club Fighter to Adonis Creed · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Rocky? “Yo, Adrian — I did it!”

🥊The Italian StallionStallone’s no-hoper, 1976

🤝The Corner MenAdrian, Paulie & Mickey

🏃The Steps72 stone steps, Philly

🐅Eye of the TigerClubber, Apollo, Drago

👊The Creed EraAdonis & Rocky, 2015–

01

In March 1975, broke (he later claimed $106 in the bank) and on the verge of selling his dog, Sylvester Stallone watched journeyman club fighter Chuck Wepner go nearly fifteen rounds with Muhammad Ali and immediately drafted the Rocky screenplay in roughly three-and-a-half days. Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff loved it and offered him a then-extraordinary $360,000 for the script alone — an offer Stallone famously turned down. Why?

✓ Correct! Stallone refused unless he played Rocky himself. Winkler and Chartoff offered up to $360,000 (some accounts say the figure climbed even higher) on the condition that they cast a name actor — Ryan O’Neal, James Caan, Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford were all floated. Stallone turned it down repeatedly and the producers eventually relented, agreeing to make the film for a much smaller $1 million budget with Stallone in the lead. Rocky grossed $225 million worldwide and won Best Picture — the most famous “hold out for the lead” bet in modern Hollywood history.

✗ Wrong. The answer is that Stallone refused to sell the script unless he could star in it as Rocky. The producers wanted a known name — Ryan O’Neal, James Caan, Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford were all considered — and offered up to a reported $360,000 for the script alone. Stallone, with $106 in the bank, refused until they relented. He directing it (option A) never came up; John G. Avildsen directed and won the Oscar.

02

The reigning heavyweight champion who picks an unknown Philly club fighter for a bicentennial-themed publicity-stunt title bout — a showman modelled loosely on Muhammad Ali, dressed up as Uncle Sam and George Washington for his ring entrance — is Apollo Creed. The actor who plays him was a former Oakland Raiders linebacker. Name him.

✓ Correct! Carl Weathers (1948–2024). Weathers was a real-deal athlete: a linebacker for the Oakland Raiders in 1970–71, then for the BC Lions in the CFL, before acting work began trickling in. He landed Apollo at 28 with virtually no screen experience and immediately became one of the most charismatic American sports villains-turned-allies of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Weathers reprised Apollo in Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985) — in which Apollo is killed by Ivan Drago — and went on to play Dillon in Predator (1987) and, decades later, Greef Karga in The Mandalorian. Tony Burton played Apollo’s trainer Duke.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Carl Weathers. Tony Burton played Apollo’s longtime trainer Duke — he’s in all six original Rocky films and Creed II. Yaphet Kotto and Roger E. Mosley were ‘70s/‘80s leading Black actors but never appeared in Rocky. Weathers, a former Oakland Raiders linebacker turned actor, played Apollo across Rocky I through IV.

03

Burgess Meredith’s grizzled, raspy-voiced trainer Mickey Goldmill — the elderly former boxer who runs the Front Street Gym and adopts Rocky as “the best damn fighter I’ve seen in years” — is the emotional anchor of the early Rocky films. In which film does he suffer a fatal heart attack in the locker room before Rocky’s rematch with Clubber Lang?

✓ Correct! Rocky III (1982). Mickey collapses in the dressing room after a pre-fight altercation between Clubber Lang and the Balboa camp and dies shortly afterward in Rocky’s arms — the scene that arguably remains the franchise’s most-quoted emotional moment. Meredith was 75 at the time. He appears posthumously in flashback in Rocky V (1990) and again, in a hallucinated speech, in Rocky Balboa (2006); the “you was robbed” / “but you ain’t a fighter” scene in the latter is one of Stallone’s personal favourites from the entire franchise.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Rocky III (1982). Mickey collapses in the dressing room after the pre-fight altercation with Clubber Lang and dies in Rocky’s arms before the first Lang bout. He appears posthumously in flashback in Rocky V and in a hallucinated locker-room speech in Rocky Balboa (2006), but his death scene is Rocky III.

04

Rocky III’s terrifying challenger Clubber Lang — the “baddest man on the planet,” who taunts Rocky with the one-word fight prediction “Pain” and out-trains him in the run-up — was played by a former Chicago bodyguard with a Mohawk, gold chains and almost no acting experience. Stallone cast him after he won a televised toughest-bouncer contest. Name him.

✓ Correct! Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud). Stallone first saw him on NBC’s 1980 “America’s Toughest Bouncer” competition and cast him with virtually no screen experience. Rocky III made him a household name and led straight into his role as B.A. Baracus on The A-Team the following year (1983). The trap here is Hulk Hogan, who really is in Rocky III — as “Thunderlips,” the gigantic wrestler Rocky fights in a charity bout in the film’s opening — but he isn’t Clubber. Clubber Lang is Mr. T, and his “Pain” pre-fight prediction is one of the most-quoted lines in ‘80s American film.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Mr. T. The trap is Hulk Hogan, who genuinely does appear in Rocky III as “Thunderlips,” the absurdly large wrestler Rocky faces in a charity bout early in the film — but he isn’t Clubber Lang. Ken Norton and Joe Frazier were both real-life Ali rivals who Apollo Creed was loosely modelled on, but neither acted in the Rocky films. Mr. T is Clubber.

05

Rocky IV (1985) opens with a brutal exhibition bout in which Apollo Creed — coming out of retirement to fight a 6′5″ Soviet champion in Las Vegas — is beaten to death in the ring while Rocky watches helplessly from the corner. The Soviet boxer Ivan Drago (“I must break you”) was played by a then-27-year-old Swedish actor with a Fulbright scholarship in chemical engineering, making his Hollywood debut. Name him.

✓ Correct! Dolph Lundgren. He really did have a Fulbright scholarship in chemical engineering at MIT, which he abandoned to take the role. The training scenes were brutal — Lundgren reportedly hit Stallone so hard during a fight rehearsal that Stallone was hospitalized for nine days with a swollen heart. Brigitte Nielsen also appears in Rocky IV — as Ludmilla Drago, Ivan’s wife — and married Stallone shortly before the film’s release. Schwarzenegger and Van Damme are the obvious ‘80s muscular-European-villain confusions; both belong to other franchises (Conan, Bloodsport).

✗ Wrong. The answer is Dolph Lundgren. Brigitte Nielsen, option D, is in Rocky IV — she plays Ludmilla, Drago’s wife (and married Stallone in real life shortly before the film’s release) — but she isn’t Drago. Schwarzenegger and Van Damme are the obvious ‘80s muscle-villain confusions but neither was ever in a Rocky film. Drago is Lundgren’s star-making, scholarship-abandoning Hollywood debut.

06

For Rocky III, Stallone originally cut the training montage and end credits to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” — but the band declined to license it. He then commissioned a Chicago bar band to write a replacement to order. The result spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, won a Grammy and was nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar. Name the song.

✓ Correct! “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor — written by Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik specifically for Rocky III after Stallone sent them a temp cut scored to “Another One Bites the Dust.” It spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-1982, won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and is one of the rare TV/film theme songs that’s become genuinely synonymous with its source material. The three other options are all real Rocky-franchise songs: Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now” is the original 1976 fanfare; “Burning Heart” (Survivor again) and “No Easy Way Out” (Robert Tepper) are both from Rocky IV.

✗ Wrong. The answer is “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor. The other three are all real Rocky-franchise songs: Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now” is the original 1976 trumpet fanfare; “Burning Heart” (Survivor) and “No Easy Way Out” (Robert Tepper) are both from Rocky IV. The 1982 chart-topper Stallone commissioned after Queen turned him down is “Eye of the Tiger.”

07

Rocky entered the 1977 Academy Awards with ten nominations — including, famously, two for Stallone himself (Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay). It won three. Best Picture and Best Director (for John G. Avildsen) are well known. What was Rocky’s third Oscar that night?

✓ Correct! Best Film Editing — for Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad. Stallone famously lost both of his nominations: Best Actor went to Peter Finch (posthumously) for Network, and Best Original Screenplay went to Paddy Chayefsky (also for Network). “Gonna Fly Now,” despite being one of the most recognisable pieces of film music ever written, lost Best Song to “Evergreen” from A Star Is Born. Talia Shire’s Adrian was nominated for Best Actress and lost to Faye Dunaway (Network again). The 1977 Oscars were essentially Rocky vs. Network — and the night Rocky won Best Picture is still the highest-profile Best Picture upset of the decade.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Best Film Editing (Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad). Stallone famously lost both of his nominations — Best Actor went to Peter Finch for Network, Best Original Screenplay went to Paddy Chayefsky (also Network). “Gonna Fly Now” lost Best Song to “Evergreen” from A Star Is Born. So Rocky’s three wins are: Picture, Director and Editing.

08

The 2015 soft-reboot Creed — in which Apollo Creed’s illegitimate son Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) seeks out an aging, retired Rocky in Philadelphia and asks him to train him — earned Stallone his second Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actor) 39 years after his first. It was directed by a then-29-year-old filmmaker who’d come straight off Fruitvale Station. Name him.

✓ Correct! Ryan Coogler. He’d made Fruitvale Station with Michael B. Jordan in 2013 (at age 26) and parlayed the relationship and Sundance buzz into the Creed pitch — reportedly walking into MGM with a video of his father (a Rocky superfan) crying about Apollo’s death. Coogler co-wrote the script with Aaron Covington. Creed earned Stallone an Oscar nomination 39 years after his Rocky nod — he lost to Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies. Steven Caple Jr. (option A) is the trap: he directed Creed II (2018). Coogler went on to make Black Panther (2018), Wakanda Forever (2022) and Sinners (2025).

✗ Wrong. The answer is Ryan Coogler. The trap is Steven Caple Jr. (option A) — he directed Creed II (2018), not the original. Antoine Fuqua and F. Gary Gray weren’t involved. Coogler made Creed at 29, fresh off Fruitvale Station (2013, also with Michael B. Jordan); he’s since gone on to Black Panther, Wakanda Forever and Sinners.

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Italian Stallion — or down for the count?