Trivia / Rocky II

• B-Team Sequel: John G. Avildsen declined to return as director, as he was busy with pre-production on Saturday Night Fever...which he was later dismissed from.
• Cast the Expert: When Rocky is training for the fight, he is sparring with a smaller, quicker fighter. The sparring partner is played by real life boxing champion Roberto Durán, who had one of the most legendary careers in boxing history.
• Directed by Cast Member: This was the first of four entries in the original Rocky franchise to be directed by Stallone.
• Hostility on the Set: After the bell rings, signalling the end of the second round, Rocky and Apollo are seen pushing, shoving, taunting, and ultimately being pulled apart by their respective cornermen. They continue to taunt each other before returning to their corners. Sylvester Stallone revealed later that he and Carl Weathers were actually angry with each other and were not acting at that point, several blows that were supposed to miss him landed and the carefully choreographed fight, which they spent months meticulously planning out, went off-track during that scene, but he liked the reaction the scene produced. He decided to leave their momentary breaking of character in and the viewing audience never realized the two actors were in reality quite livid with each other.
• The Other Darrin: Mary Anne Creed, who was played by an uncredited Lavelle Roby in the first film, is now played by Sylvia Meals.
• Real-Life Relative: Sylvester Stallone's infant son Seargeoh Stallone played the newborn Robert Balboa, Jr. The role would later be played by his elder brother Sage Stallone in Rocky V. His brother Frank reprises his role from the first film as the street corner singer after Rocky's wedding.
• Reality Subtext: The movie features the comedown from Rocky's moral victory. He quickly burns through his money and he has nothing to fall back on. In the end he is forced to go back to one sure thing he has, which could possibly cripple him. This mirror's Sylvester Stallone's inability to maintain the momentum from the first movie and develop a stable career outside of Rocky, leading to him creating a sequel.
• Throw It In!: While preparing for the film, Stallone tore his right pectoral muscle which had to be operated on. This necessitated a change in the script where Rocky switched from fighting "southpaw" to fighting right-handed through most of the fight and using his left hand to jab.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Chuck Wepner, the real-life inspiration for Rocky, was offered the part of a trainer named "Chink Weber". According to Wepner, he read for Sylvester Stallone but did very poorly. The character was deleted from the script.
  • In the first draft of the script, the fight took place at the Roman Colosseum.
  • In one version of the screenplay, there is a flashback scene that shows Rocky first meeting Mickey and we learn Rocky's real first name: Robert.
  • Stallone's original idea after the first film was to do a trilogy, where Rocky would have turned into the Mayor of Philadelphia who later would have been impeached, therefore having to return to the ring at an advanced age.
  • An alternate version of the ending was shot where Adrian and Paulie attend the final match instead of watching on television. This version has never been released in full, only photographs of Rocky holding Adrian in a Bridal Carry as she holds up the championship belt.
• Written by Cast Member: In addition to writing the script, Sylvester Stallone himself wrote the paperback novelization for this movie. The novel is mostly in first person, from Rocky's point of view, written in the same choppy English in which Rocky speaks. Scenes in which Rocky is not present (such as Apollo Creed consulting his associates, or Paulie alone with Adrian) are in standard third-person, in proper English.
• Working Title: Rocky II: Redemption.

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