Sylvester Stallone has given fans a rare behind-the-scenes look at the punishing physical preparation that went into making Rocky.
He shared a throwback video on Instagram that captures him and the late Carl Weathers painstakingly working out every punch and fall before the cameras ever rolled.
The 79-year-old posted the footage on Wednesday alongside a reflection on what it truly took to bring the iconic underdog boxer to life.
“Before Rocky ever stepped into the ring on screen, there were hours like this,” he wrote.
“Repetition. Footwork. Timing. Getting hit and getting back up. I wrote the script in three and a half days, but the physical work took months. Nothing about it was accidental. If you want it to feel real, you have to live it.”
The video itself is a fascinating watch.
In it, Stallone and Weathers, who played Apollo Creed, are seen meticulously blocking out every movement, with Stallone calling out instructions between takes like a director and a fighter all at once.
At one point he tells Weathers, “So, I’m a little hurt. You’ve got me stung with the jabs,” before throwing himself against the ropes after a pulled punch, complaining with a grin that the ropes felt like “guitar wires.”
He directed Weathers on exactly where to throw his punches, “left, right”, before hurling himself 180 degrees into the ropes again, explaining that he wanted to grab them as he fell.
Carl Weathers, who appeared in multiple Rocky films as the charismatic and formidable Apollo Creed, died in February 2024.
The footage serves as a warm tribute to their chemistry, and a reminder of just how much craft and physical commitment lay beneath one of cinema’s most enduring sports stories.
