When Carl Weathers auditioned for the role of Apollo Creed, the prizefighter who gives an untried contender a shot at his heavyweight title in Rocky (1976), he was asked to read opposite the film’s writer. “Now – I’m ignorant – and as I finish reading, I say, ‘Well, wait a minute, if you can get me a real actor to read with, I can do this a lot better.’”
Unbeknown to him, his scene partner was the newcomer Sylvester Stallone, who had not only written the script but was playing the title role. “Somehow I got the job,” said Weathers.
