Actor Sylvester Stallone has slammed the makers of Drago, a recently announced Creed spin-off. Taking to Instagram the Rocky actor posted some screenshots of the announcement and shared his disappointment writing, “Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out.” Earlier this month the actor shared his frustration with producer Irwin Winkler about the actor’s lack of ownership rights on franchises in a now-deleted post.
Expressing his disappointment with the Drago spin-off, he wrote:
"Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out…ONCE AGAIN , this PATHETIC 94 year old PRODUCER and HIS MORONIC USELESS VULTURE CHILDREN, Charles And David , are once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me … I APOLOGIZE to the FANS , I never wanted ROCKY characters to be exploited by these parasites… By the way, I have nothing but respect for Dolph but I wish HE had told me what was going on behind my back.… Keep your REAL friends close.
The titular character of the franchise, Rocky Balboa, was created by Stallone in 1976, the movie went on to land ten Academy Award nominations and winning three. He made a return to the franchise, reprising the fan-favorite character for the spin-off Creed, starring Michael B Jordan. Stallone is credited as a producer on all Creed films including the upcoming installment. Though he will not reprise his role the Creed III, which makes it the first in the franchise without the iconic character’s presence.
While specific plot details are under wraps it is understood that Drago will center around Lundgren’s character and his son Viktor Drago played by Florian Munteanu. The movie will be penned by Robert Lawton. Ivan Drago first appeared as the main antagonist in Rocky IV, which pitted him against Rocky after causing the death of Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers. Like Stallone, Lundgren made a return to his role in Creed II which introduced his son Viktor, who was pitted against Jordan’s Adonis Creed.
Stallone first expressed his resentment about having no ownership of the franchise in a 2019 interview with Variety saying, “I have zero ownership of Rocky. Every word, every syllable, every grammatical error was all my fault,” he said. “It was shocking that it never came to be, but I was told, ‘Hey, you got paid, so what are you complaining about?’ I was furious.” The actor blamed his own lack of business sense at the time for not pushing the issue hard enough he added, “You don’t want to ruffle the feathers of the golden goose.”
Echoing the same sentiments in his earlier post this month the actor wrote, “I really would like have at least a little what’s left of my rights back, before passing it on to ONLY YOUR CHILDREN - I believe That would be a FAIR gesture from this 93-year-old gentleman? This is a painful subject That eats at my soul because I wanted to leave something of Rocky for my children, but it’s always great hearing from the loyal fans… Keep Punching”
Creed III will premiere on March 3, 2023. Check out Stallone's post below:
Also check out Collider's interview with Stallone below: