Returning to the City of Brotherly Love: Stallone says that going back to Philadelphia to film Rocky Balboa was a surreal experience mainly because the city believes Rocky is real ? or at least that?s how they treat the character. ?No one calls me Sylvester, it?s Rocky. I went back to the neighborhood, which is a very unusual thing for an actor to go back where children were 5-years-old and now you go back and they have four children themselves.

They?ve grown up, literally. ?That?s Rocky?s house. That?s where he drinks.? Yeah, for real. For real. It?s an incredible compliment but it?s becomes like this mythic character, like the Phoenix. Does it live? Does it die? They?ve embraced it like no other city you?ve ever seen.

In Philadelphia they throw ice balls at Santa Claus. It?s a tough crowd. You know what I mean with the Eagles? They let you know. They?re not shy. It?s brutal. But they like Rocky. They?ve embraced him as one of their own, because he represents kind of this regular guy who is willing to take the hits and keep going.?

Crafting the Screenplay for Rocky Balboa: The story didn't always begin at the point where Adrian had passed away. ?No, and it wasn?t working,? revealed Stallone. ?I was using the George Foreman format which would be this: Rocky has a Youth Center in Philly. It?s going broke. He goes to the bank for a loan. Adrian is still alive. The bank says no. He goes to church for a loan. Nothing. Goes to a pawn shop.

Nothing. He goes, ?You know, I want to go out and do some clubs fights and get the money so I can pay the rent, like George [Forman].? One thing led to another until finally he?s had 18, 19 of these.

People are saying, ?Wow, you should continue this.? It becomes commercial with guys like Don King, which is what happened with George Foreman. You?ve now become a commercial commodity that he can really sell, and that?s what happened with George Foreman. But all Adrian did during the film was, ?Don?t do that. Don?t do that. Don?t do that.? We?ve seen that. I went ?Oy!? So the movie?s about trying to save the gym and the kids. It wasn?t really about any kind of visceral, emotional journey. It wasn?t about just dealing with life. This is all about plot and a simple subject of the gym.

Rocky I was about confusion, loneliness, brotherhood, self-awareness. It was just those subjects and, at the very end, finally not even caring about the victory. It was about the love of Adrian. That?s what it was all about. It?s called the ?Adrian factor.? So I said, ?What I am going to do?? You have to pull a man?s heart out and take away the thing he loves the most in the world. Take it out of his life and he now plummets into the depths of despair. There?s nothing more traumatic than taking Adrian out of his life. I had to call Talia [Shire] who I had been talking to about the other script. I said, ?I worked out the plot. It finally works.? She goes, ?Oh, that?s so great. What?s my part?? I said, ?Dead. Your part is dead. You?re dead.? She says, ?No, seriously,? I said, ?Seriously. It opens up and I?m on a folding chair looking at your tombstone.? She goes, ?Oh come on!? I go, ?Yeah, but I bring roses.? It?s a true story.

I talked to her the other day and she finally got it. She was very cerebral. She goes, ?Oh, I get it. It?s the journey and down the River Styx.? I said, ?Okay, that?s close enough.? That?s exactly what it is. It?s Dante?s Inferno, down the River Styx. She?s great.?

What Motivates Sylvester Stallone to Succeed?: ?Adversity and fear of knowing that I didn?t try. It?s why I didn?t sell the first one. It was because I was scared. I said if I had sold the first one and it turned out really well for someone else, I would probably hate myself for my entire life. The same thing with this one. I just felt like that the fear of not doing it? My wife was afraid of me doing this film. She was crying, ?Don?t do this. You?re going to be embarrassed.? I said, ?I know, but I?ve just got to try it. I feel it.?

Dixon in the movie, his trainer, says that until a man - and this means a woman, too - has been through a real baptism of fire, when you?re scared, when you?re hanging on, when someone is hurting you, which is life is hurting you, then you?re really going to see what you?re made of and then you?re going to get the only kind of respect in the world that matters: self-respect. That?s pretty much what my journey has been. This has all been about getting Rocky self-respect, and maybe a little bit of that will wipe off on me.?