‘Creed 2’ Is Moving Forward: Script Development Begins This Month

Creed 2 was inevitable from the moment that critical raves poured in and the film gained traction at the box office.

It has grossed $173 million worldwide since opening in November 2015 on a budget of just $35 million, scoring another hit for star Sylvester Stallone, producer Irwin Winkler, and relative newcomers Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler.

Now it’s moving forward in an official capacity, according to a new Hollywood Reporter interview with Winkler.

However, those looking for more Rocky screen time are likely to be disappointed as the film will focus mainly on Adonis Creed in an even greater sense than the first film did.

When asked whether Stallone would be attached, Winkler said, “Hopefully, yeah.”

He continued.

“But basically it’s about Creed. We think that there is really a story to examine the life of Adonis Creed, and we’re going ahead with it.”

The script has not been written, Winkler added, but the process would begin in the “next couple of weeks.”

The interview took place prior to the Academy Awards of this past Sunday, and Winkler pointed out that he wanted to get past that before beginning.

That would place script development sometime in the first half of this month.

Since Stallone has gone on record saying that he would definitely be up for a part two, you can pretty much count him in; but if he has less to do this time around than he did last, then it’s possible you could see Rocky finally being retired (dying) in Creed 2.

That has yet to be confirmed at this time, and a recent interview with Stallone indicated that the story could actually have more for Rocky to do, with Sly even speculating that Carl Weathers might come back to his role of Apollo in flashback sequences, and that the story could be told in the style of Godfather Part II.

Winkler also revealed a few other interesting Rocky tidbits in his discussion of Creed 2.

Firstly, he confirmed that Talia Shire was never his choice for Adrian. He instead wanted to make the film with the late Carrie Snodgress.

“We wanted her desperately, and she wouldn’t work for the money,” Winkler said, adding that due to contractual sensitivity, they kept the budget to $1.025 million.

“We didn’t have a lot of money for any actors,” he added.

Perhaps more surprisingly is the fact that Winkler didn’t seem to want Burgess Meredith either, and even now, he isn’t sure about the casting.

“What we should have done, instead of Burgess Meredith — but he was a little too young at the time — was hire Barry Primus, but that’s another story,” he said, adding that Lee J. Cobb had been their first choice for the role of the grizzled trainer.

Winkler’s penchant for second-guessing good choices seems to still be in effect in relation to the Creed idea.

“I didn’t want to meet him [Coogler], because people had been coming out of the woodwork saying they always had an idea, and it was a waste of time. And then Harvey Weinstein at lunch one day said, ‘Take this DVD, I think it’s really good.’ I [had just landed] at Sundance, and I saw Fruitvale Station, and I saw the credit and it was the same guy that I had been ignoring for a year. And I said, ‘OK, I’ll meet him.’ And he pitched the idea. The idea was different, but still it had some of the heart of Rocky, and we said, ‘OK, let’s take a chance and let’s find a new way to tell the story.'”

So what do you think of the news that there will be a Creed 2, readers? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Image via Creed screen grab]