Sylvester Stallone is one person you would not want to have any bad blood with, for he just might make you reconsider all your life choice with a simple stare. Don’t believe it? Well, this is what happened with Pedro Pascal’s The Mandalorian co-star, who thought Stallone wasn’t a real actor.
However, you can hardly even blame Carl Weathers for the misunderstanding since Stallone was not a well-known somebody when they first had a script reading for Rocky.
Carl Weathers Didn’t Think Sylvester Stallone Was A Real Actor
When Carl Weathers first got the audition call for the now blockbuster franchise, Rocky, he was a nobody too. Since he had just gotten off from a pro football career and completed his drama degree, Pedro Pascal‘s The Mandalorian co-star had just a few acting credits. While the makers weren’t too keen to have him due to his non-existent popularity, he finally got a chance to audition with a couple hundred other guys. During the script reading, he was introduced to Sylvester Stallone as a writer which naturally made him think he wasn’t an actor.
“I was introduced to him as the writer. So he comes into the room out of some vestibule somewhere and he sits down and they introduce, well, this is the writer of the screenplay.”
By the time they were done reading, Weathers was extremely nervous.
“I’ve got all this energy going and at the end of it, the reading, it’s like — it’s quiet, it’s like crickets man.”
And then the producers and directors all started giggling and laughing which made Weathers even more horrified.
“The producers and the directors are kind of leaning over to each other and then I see John Avildsen, our director, giggle a little bit. And I’m really nervous now, because I think I blew the interview, right? I blew the audition. So I chirp out, ‘You know, if you get me a real actor I could do a lot better!’ I have no idea why they laughed, too!”
Stallone then gave Weathers his infamous stare which would make anyone crawl out of their skin in horror.
Carl Weathers On Why He Got His Rocky Role
Weathers had actually bagged the audition and would soon play Apollo Creed in not only the four Rocky movies but would also have a spin-off franchise based on his characters’ son. But after the first reading, The Mandalorian star didn’t think he had aced the audition for he had just called Stallone a nobody and a fake actor!
“And Stallone looks up at me like, ‘This idiot, who’s he? Who does he think he is?'”
Fortunately, Sylvester Stallone thought that Weathers was too arrogant, making him perfect for the role. But Weathers had a different story to tell everybody,
“And I tell people, I think I got the job because Sly wanted to beat the hell out of me.”
And that is how Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers ended up playing arch-enemies in the blockbuster franchise.
Rocky is available to stream on Netflix.
Source: The Rich Eisen Show
