Sylvester Stallone reveals Carl Weathers’ ‘Rocky’ audition story

LOS ANGELES — Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone remembered his ‘Rocky’ co-star Carl Weathers, who reportedly died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in his sleep at the age of 76 on February 1.

Stallone, 77, detailed Weathers’ audition for ‘Rocky’ to Jimmy Fallon on ‘The Tonight Show’, reports ‘People’ magazine.

He revealed how the late actor landed the role of Apollo Creed in the popular film franchise. The ‘Rambo’ star told Fallon that his death was “shocking” and described him as “magnificent” before recalling when Weathers, who was still playing for the Oakland Raiders at the time, auditioned in the mid 1970s.

“Rocky was a compilation of really great actors, almost born to play those parts,” Stallone said. “I couldn’t fill that spot (for Apollo Creed) because it required incredible athleticism, brains, spirit, talent, speed. (Weathers) had it all. I mean, he had it all”.

As per ‘People’, Stallone remembered Weathers being in a “bad mood” when he arrived at the audition, which he asserted was a good thing since Weathers would be playing opposite Stallone as Rocky Balboa’s boxing rival.

Then, Weathers apparently took his shirt off, to which Stallone reacted with, “Oh, my God, am I trouble, because I kind of looked like Pooh Bear at the time, I did, and he looked like Adonis. He banged about three shots off of my forehead and I went, ‘Hired’”.

“I loved him. I couldn’t have done it without him”, Stallone added, before he shared behind-the-scenes footage of the pair rehearsing the final fight scene in 1976’s ‘Rocky’.

Also read: ‘Rocky’, ‘Predator’ star Carl Weathers dies aged 76