Sylvester Stallone wanted Apollo Creed to be a ghost in ‘Creed 2’

Carl
Weathers as Apollo Creed in “Rocky.”
MGM

• Sylvester Stallone wanted to show the ghost of Apollo Creed
  in one scene of “Creed II.”
• But director Steven Caple Jr. didn’t know how to pull it off
  in a way that would work with the tone of the movie.
• Caple also wondered, would actor Carl Weathers reprise the
  role as the way he looks today or would he have to be de-aged to
  look like he did in the “Rocky” films?
• Instead, Caple tried to include the voice of Creed talking to
  his son at a dramatic point in the movie.
• Caple told Business Insider why he ended up scrapping the
  whole idea.

Warning: Minor “Creed II” spoilers
ahead.

“Creed II” does an excellent job of paying homage to the original
“Rocky” films, but there’s one aspect of the franchise both
Sylvester Stallone and “Creed II” director Steven Caple Jr.
wanted in the movie, but sadly could not pull off in a way that
satisfied them. 

When Caple signed on to direct the movie a year ago, Stallone,
who along with playing Rocky Balboa in the movie is also a
co-screenwriter on it, told Caple about an idea to get Apollo
Creed in the movie.

“Sly had a ghost version at one point,” Caple told Business
Insider.

The idea Stallone had was that while Adonis Creed (Michael B.
Jordan) is recovering in the hospital from his first fight with
Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), for a brief moment while in and
out of consciousness he would see his father, Apollo, standing in
the corner of the room.

“In regards to tone, it wasn’t on my level of where I was going
with the film,” Caple said. “Sly had it in just as an idea we
could use, but I thought it might throw people off. And then I
was thinking what does Apollo wear? Is it [actor] Carl Weathers
today or from back in ‘Rocky IV’?”

Adonis
Creed almost got up off the mat thanks to the voice of his
father, Apollo, but “Creed II” director Steven Caple Jr. decided
otherwise.
MGM

So Caple came up with another idea: Why not have Apollo’s voice
come up at an important moment in the movie?

Caple felt at a key point in the final fight, while Creed is
trying to get up off the canvas, he would hear his father’s voice
say, “Get up, son.”

“I felt that was going to be the moment,” Caple said. He was
going to have Weathers come in to deliver the dramatic line. But
when he edited the scene and included the line (which at that
point was recorded by someone else as temporary dialogue) it
didn’t work.

Read more:


The director of “Creed II” describes the conversation with
Sylvester Stallone that convinced him he’d have the freedom to
make his mark on the franchise

“It just felt like it came out of nowhere,” Caple said. “At that
point it’s his own family that’s making him get up, not his
father anymore.”

During “Creed II,” Adonis and his now fiancée Bianca (Tessa
Thompson) have a baby.

As a fan of the franchise, Caple was disappointed he couldn’t get
Weathers in the movie. He admitted that he even wondered if there
was a clever way to get Mr. T (who was in “Rocky III”) in “Creed
II.” But when it was time to lock picture, the best way to
celebrate the myth of Apollo Creed was through pictures and old
“Rocky IV” footage. 

But you can’t say Caple didn’t try.

“Creed II” opens in theaters on Wednesday.