While Sylvester Stallone is currently in theaters with another Rambo movie, he will almost certainly always be most remembered for the Rocky franchise. After six Rocky films and a pair of Creed followups, Sylvester Stallone's character has been through the ringer. Stallone himself has been intimately involved in the entire franchise, not just acting, but also writing and directing multiple installments.
Sylvester Stallone has been part of many emotional moments in the Rocky franchise, but in a recent tweet that included a behind the scenes look at Creed, the actor/writer/director revealed that the most emotional part of the filmmaking process for him was the scoring session. Give it a look, and listen, below.
It's like watching a silent movie. We see the film film played in the background, but we hear nothing except the score. It really forces you to listen to what the music is saying about the scene rather than what the people are saying. Because of the way music can bring out our emotions, it's certainly not surprising that just focusing on the score like that can be an emotional experience.
And when you're dealing with music, much of which was written by Bill Conti, it's not too hard to get emotional. The music for Rocky has become iconic, and that solo piano playing "Gonna Fly Now" as a ballad may be one of the most emotional pieces of music ever put on film. It's beautiful, but also quite melancholy.
Of course, seeing Sylvester Stallone playing Rocky Balboa here, is by its very nature, somewhat melancholy. Stallone has publicly stated that he's done playing Rocky, and while it's always possible that could change, Creed II left Rocky in as happy a place as we could expect to find him, so it's the right place for us to leave him.
That doesn't mean that the franchise Rocky started is anywhere close to done. While a Creed III has yet to be officially announced, the success of the first two films would seem to make such a thing likely. The cast and crew behind Creed II certainly all seem willing to make another one, and the audience appears willing to see it. Creed II co-star Dolph Lundgren even has an idea who should direct the next installment.
It will be interesting to see how the score of a "Rocky" movie changes if Rocky himself isn't even in it. The most iconic pieces of Bill Conti's original score certainly appeared in the Creed movies, but the music was used sparingly. A Creed III without Ricky Balboa could continue to do that or it could go in an entirely different direction, giving Adonis Creed his own sound, which the movies have largely already done.
