The Legendary Insult That Accidentally Won Carl Weathers the Defining Role of Apollo Creed

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Carl Weathers made confident, boastful boxer Apollo Creed the perfect antagonist for the classic sports drama Rocky. But it was an accidental moment of real-life trash talk that landed him the role in the first place.

Weathers died “peacefully in his sleep” on Thursday at age 76, according to a family statement. The actor starred in a number of memorable movies and TV shows, including the 1987 action thriller Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 1996 sports comedy Happy Gilmore featuring Adam Sandler, and more recently, the Star Wars television spinoff The Mandalorian as Greef Karga.

But before all of that, Weathers was little-known with only a handful of small roles to his credit when he auditioned for the original Rocky, debuting in 1976. He got the part of Creed and starred opposite Sylvester Stallone as underdog Rocky Balboa. Their on-screen rivalry actually began with an accidental quip from Weathers in the film’s audition room.

Watch Carl Weathers and Sylvester Stallone spar in Rocky

Weathers was an athlete before acting

Born on January 14, 1948, Weathers grew up in New Orleans. While he began acting in plays in grade school, according to AP, he showed tremendous potential as a football player. He earned a scholarship to New Orleans’ prestigious St. Augustine High School before moving to California after his junior year.

Weathers later attended and played football at San Diego State University, where he majored in theater. He played one season in the NFL in 1970 and two more in the Canadian Football League before pivoting to acting full-time.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in 1974, Weathers made small appearances in TV shows like Good Times, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Kung Fu, as well as movies like Bucktown (1975) and The Four Deuces (1975). Soon, he was hopeful his audition for a new film about a Philadelphia boxer who takes on the world heavyweight champion would be the break he needed.

Weathers said Stallone wasn’t a “real actor”

Similar to Weathers, in the early 1970s, Stallone was certainly not the Hollywood star he would later become. He, too, had only had a number of small movies roles by the time he had wrote Rocky.

So when Weathers auditioned for the movie, he didn’t hold back when it came to his eventual co-star. According to The Hollywood Reporter, there wasn’t another actor for Weathers to read with. So, he performed the scene with Stallone, who he knew as the film’s writer.

Weathers was frustrated following the read and took aim at his audition partner. “At the end of it, I didn’t feel like it had really sailed, that the scene had sailed, and they were quiet, and there was this moment of awkwardness, I felt, anyway,” Weathers said. “So I just blurted out, ‘I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with.’

“So I just insulted the star of the movie without really knowing it and not intending to.”

Luckily for Weathers, who had never boxed before auditioning, his accidental jab sounded like something a champion pugilist might say to get in the head of his opponent—catching Stallone’s attention. He was eventually cast for the part. “Sometimes the mistakes are the ones that get you the gig,” Weathers said.

Weathers reprised his role in three sequels

Rocky became one of the most beloved sports films of all-time, winning three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. So, naturally, Creed and Balboa got a rematch, facing off again in 1979’s Rocky II.

As the series progressed, the fictional boxers became friends. Stallone instead faced off against other big name celebs like Hulk Hogan and Mr. T in Rocky III (1982) and Dolph Lundgren as the villainous Ivan Drago in Rocky IV (1985). The franchise is still alive today, of course, with Michael B. Jordan starring as Apollo’s son, Adonis, in 2015’s Creed and its two sequels.

All told, the Rocky films and spinoff movies grossed almost $800 million and gave Weathers the role that helped him sustain a long career as an Emmy-nominated actor.

“It puts you on the map and makes your career, so to speak. But that’s a one-off, so you’ve got to follow it up with something,” Weathers said in 2017. “Fortunately those movies kept coming, and Apollo Creed became more and more in people’s consciousness and welcome in their lives, and it was just the right guy at the right time.”

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