In a scathing artistic cry and an attempt to claim his rights;

On Monday, Sylvester Stallone published a black and white painting on his social networking platform on Instagram, in which producer Irwin Winkler appeared in the form of a snake with a tongue in the shape of a sharp knife blade, in a reference to what Stallone believes that Winkler lied to him for the past four decades.

Stallone captioned the photo, "Very cool picture of the great Rocky/ Creed producer Erwin Winkler, one of the country's greatest artists. After Erwin has dominated Rocky for over 47 years, now Creed." By taking back at least a little of my rights, before you just give them to your children. I think that would be a fair gesture from a 93-year-old man."

The origin of the dispute

The origin of the dispute dates back to the seventies, when Stallone wrote and starred in the first part of the "Rocky" series, in exchange for a deal that seemed profitable at the time.

However, with the expansion of the work and its transformation into a huge series that included 6 parts, all written and starring Stallone, followed by the “Creed” series derived from the “Rocky” films, which released two parts so far, starring Stallone, who participated in writing the script for the second part and achieved revenues The eight films $1.7 trillion;

Stallone, who had been languishing in his chest for years, grew increasingly upset.

Anguish and fury, generated and amplified by his marginalization and severing of this lucrative privilege for nearly half a century, granted Winkler full rights to everything.

This is what Stallone described as "the painful subject that eats my soul";

For his inability to leave something of Rocky to his children.

why now?

When Stallone was asked what prevented him from aggressively defending more rights to "Rocky" in the early days as long as he felt wronged and robbed, he stated that apart from his inexperience, that was the business code of conduct then, that it was wrong to bother the owner of the product." Golden goose feathers," he said.

In an interview that Stallone gave to Variety in 2019, in which he expressed his deep sadness that he did not own any property rights to “Rocky”, he confirmed that every syllable in the work, every grammatical error was his invention, even describing a character. Rocky Brother.

He continued, "It's the only voice that enables me to say what I want without sounding silly, boring or emotional, because this is Rocky, a guy who can't be silent, talking and speaking out. Because of the way he talks and his naivety, the audience listens to him." , which allows him as a writer to pass on everything his other characters can never say on the lips of Rocky.

In Winkler's view, he believes that Stallone was treated fairly when he was adequately paid for his acting and writing.

He was even surprised when he learned that Stallone was not satisfied with his share of the franchise, especially that he had received more than 10 million dollars as a result of his participation in the profits of "Creed 1" and "Creed 2" as a result of the tournament and contribution to production.

#Oscar 1977

Muhammad Ali sorprendió a Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone).

De los mejores momentos en la historia de las entregas de los premios de la academia.pic.twitter.com/HSEsUXRwCV

— Raúl Zambrano Cabello (@RaulZambrano7) March 28, 2022

The happiest man in the world

Despite everything, Stallone owes his credit to "Rocky" for making him the happiest person in the world, as he put it. Days to reach Philadelphia, where the filming location is, before his life is completely upended.

Once Rocky offered, he didn't just buy his dog;

But also his name became known in Hollywood, as well as he became a millionaire for the first time in his life.

Although the terms of the deal he concluded with production and distribution company "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer" (MGM) stipulated that he would receive $25,000 for the script and $2,000 for acting, he also received 10% of the net profit.

1. Sylvester Stallone – pioneer in action genere in Hollywood


Best actor Oscar 1977 winner for Rocky


Best supporting actor Oscar winner 2016 pic.twitter.com/BUD5ecri3H

— Dr Nihal M (@Being_Nihal133) May 30, 2021

Which amounted to $2.2 million at the time, as the first part alone achieved $225 million out of a budget that did not exceed $960,000.

With the work nominated for 10 Oscars, including two nominations for Stallone himself, and the film winning 3 Oscars, he was able to demand a raise in his wages, earning $75,000 for the second part, and $120,000 for the third.

And in the face of all those millions that the three parts made, Stallone decided to demand some ownership as the creator of the character, so the response came with a refusal, as the producers of the work assured him that no one had such privileges, and it was enough that they give him a higher wage with each release, and thus the reopening became The subject matter becomes more difficult and illogical with each new part shown in theaters.