Ryan Coogler inspired to make Creed

For that matter, he wasn’t born when “Rocky II”, “Rocky III” or “Rocky IV” came out either. It begins with a young Adonis (the wonderful Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale Station,”) the son of Apollo Creed.

It all makes for a film that will please longtime Rocky fans and newcomers to the story line.

After being hesitant to train his best friend’s son, Rocky ultimately agrees to take Creed in. Written by Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington.

The “Rocky” star didn’t exactly jump at the idea.

You got to remember now, you fight great, but I’m a great fighter. “But I was like, ‘It’s all good”. Additionally, we spoke with another Hollywood legend and one of the “Rocky” film series’ longtime producers, Irwin Winkler.

We were also interested in a character who was okay with him fighting. In “Part 1”, I was critical of the producers’ choice to follow the trend of treating movies like segmented television drama. So you have those hits and misses, and I’m trying to capture that.

For whatever reason, I never got invested in the Rocky series.

“It was kind of inspired by the minor culture in Philadelphia right now, what’s going on in black culture in Philly”, Coogler said. “But the fight game? No”.

Rocky needed every break he received in that original classic; Adonis was already handed the break he needed so why ignore that and seem ungrateful to a woman who could have hated him and totally ignored him his whole life. “What Ryan was taking on was quite a lot for his second time out”. I wanted them to be…you don’t always like them, you know what I’m saying?

Indeed, as the popularity of boxing has waned over the decades, some may wonder whether the almost 40-year-old franchise has the resonance it once did. “This was something he had been looking at for many, many, many years”, Stallone said.

“How confident were we?” For the “Rocky” franchise, however, time has yet to make that knock-out move. My kids played “Eye of the Tiger” in their assembly when they were in the school band.

Have you watched Creed? “I felt very safe, he put me around people that knew exactly what they were doing and we were on top of things for about a year and half”. There is real magic in the Rocky sagas, and “Creed” proves this is one film franchise than can still go the distance.

The movie is more spinoff than sequel. “He’s like nuts, man”, Coogler said. “That’s what makes it so handsome”. Yes, it adds some depth to these characters, but it also turns them into one of the sorriest bunch characters who ever ended up crossing paths.

Overall, Creed is a brilliant film that’s among the very best titles of 2015.

“I was really bummed not to being in a training montage, definitely”, Thompson joked. He laughed. “He’s still in shape”. This is the first Rocky flick Stallone neither wrote nor directed. Is it as good as the early Rocky films?

JORDAN: (As Adonis Johnson) So how’d you beat him?

He reluctantly adopts his father’s name and pressures the retired Rocky into training him for a championship bout. “I had to take a couple breaks”.

Of course, being a “Rocky” movie, it all comes down to a climactic fight. “So, yes, Rocky would like to keep punching”.