by Dawn on 21 May 2004, 18:28
Copyright 2003 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
The New York Post
December 8, 2003, Monday
SECTION: All Editions; Pg. 014
LENGTH: 751 words
HEADLINE: SLY WANTS ROCKY TO GET A LAST SHOT
BYLINE: Cindy Adams
BODY:
SYLVESTER Stallone has not yet hung up those boxing gloves. Or his movie career. Or his "Rocky" fame. The bell is now ringing for the final round. He's up with a new script. A "Rocky" 6. A sort of farewell forever to the character. The concept being - old and battered Rocky takes his last shot.
MGM likes it and is willing to give the thing a go and is up for the financing. Stallone is so eager he's agreeing to work on the come. Translation: No guaranteed front-end multizillion-buck salary. He'll do it for a percentage. It's his last chance comeback and he has little time left to do the body work.
The problem is Chartoff-Winkler. They say uh-uh. They want cash up front. See, they were partners on the series. Put the money up in the early days when things with Sylvester were lean. But when those days grew latter and lush and lucrative, and little "Rocky" grew into a mountain, they were not pleased with their treatment. Maybe certain people got tough. Maybe there was a touch of ego. Maybe phone calls didn't get returned.
They will deny this, he will deny this, agents will deny this, p.r. people will deny this, popcorn machines will deny this, everybody will deny this and I will already in advance apologize and retract it and beg everyone's pardon and say how humbly sorry I am and how stupid and ill-advised I was for printing such a dumb imbecilic thing. But the fact is, it's so. And they now want their money in front.
Hey, hell hath no fury like a hotshot producer scorned.
Dolph Aficionado