It seems like Rocky Balboa will be fighting a few rounds in the legal system. NBC and Sylvester Stallone were slapped upon with a $7 million lawsuit by a personal trainer. According to the latter, the idea for reality competition ‘Strong’ was actually taken from him.
The lawsuit was filed in New York Supreme court on Friday and according to Robert Fletcher, he came with the idea of America’s Next Great Trainer. It would feature numerous personal trainees and trainers as they compete for the title of America’s Next Great Trainer and try to win the ultimate cash prize.
The show would actually focus on the complete transformation of individuals in all aspects of fitness and health. According to Fletcher, Todd Durkin was already enlisted by him in order to host the show and it was pitched out to numerous entities. It also includes 25/7 productions. According to him, a proposal was also sent to Stallone’s stylist.
Fletcher reported that communications were cut by Durkin, the enlisted trainer who was supposed to host the show. In 2016, he came to know that NBC was planning to air a show which was incredibly similar to his idea, titled ‘Strong’. It would also feature Durkin as a star athlete and trainer.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali’s fight with Chuck Wepner back in 1975 was actually the inspiration behind the Oscar-winning film Rocky, from Sylvester Stallone.
In the 1976 film of Rocky, the rags to riches story of an underdog boxer were told. There, Rocky Balboa ended up getting the chance of a lifetime when he fought against the current reigning heavyweight champion of the world in boxing.
The film was a commercial and critical success and spawned many sequels in the future. It won 225 million dollars worldwide, won three Oscars, which included Best Picture as well. After that film, Sylvester Stallone became world famous and his popularity literally skyrocketed.
After that, he wrote and also starred in six more sequels and they collectively grossed an amount more than 1 billion dollars in the worldwide box office. Sylvester Stallone’s inspiration for the Rocky series came from Ali’s fight with Chuck Wepner back in 1975.
Ali was knocked off his feet by Wepner in the 9th round. After that, the fight went on for 6 more rounds and after the technical knockout, Ali was declared the winner. In Stallone’s film, Ali’s character was played by Apollo Creed while Wepner’s character was played by Sylvester Stallone.
Ali wasn’t too overjoyed about the final outcome of the film after coming to know that he was portrayed as the movie’s anti-hero.
After watching the movie, he also commented that he was so great in boxing that filmmakers had to create Balboa’s character, which was further a white character, in order to counter his character in the ring.
Ali said that America needs to have white images no matter where they get it from. It could be Jesus, Rocky, Tarzan or Wonder Woman among others.
However, later Ali claimed that he really liked the first movie and he made peace with Sylvester in the same way Apollo made peace with Rocky Balboa. He was also present during the 1977 Oscars.
He came face to face with Stallone and was also involved in a mock fight with him. At that time, Sylvester Stallone was on stage in order to declare the nominations for Best Supporting Actress.
In other news, production is currently going on for Guardians of the Galaxy but details of this upcoming sequel are still under wraps. According to the spoilers, Sylvester Stallone will be playing the role of Star Lord’s father who was lost a long time back.