Did Sylvester Stallone write Rocky? Irwin Winkler and Dolph Lundgren drama explained

American actor Sylvester Stallone has called out the "pathetic" producers of the Rocky spinoff, Drago, for making the project without him and centering the theme around the franchise's other character, Ivan Drago.

On July 31, the 76-year-old star and writer of the profoundly emotional Rocky took to his Instagram to criticize producer Irwin Winkler and his sons, Charles and David, and called them "parasites."

"Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out…ONCE AGAIN , IRWIN WINKLER , this PATHETIC 94 year old PRODUCER and HIS M*RONIC VULTURE CHILDREN, Charles And David, are once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me … I APOLOGIZE to the FANS , I never wanted ROCKY characters to be exploited by these parasites."

He further went onto express his disappointment with his former co-actor Dolph Lundgren.

"By the way, I once had nothing but respect for Dolph but he NEVER told me about what was going on behind my back with the character I created for him !!! REAL FRIENDS Are more precious than gold."

In another Instagram post, Sylvester Stallone uploaded a photoshopped picture of himself from Rocky with a vampiric version of Irvin Winkler. In the caption, the star slammed the "most hated, untalented, decrepited, producer in Hollywood" and added that he and his children, whom he dubbed "bloodsuckers," has exploited artists and several families over the years.

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Sylvester Stallone wrote Rocky in three days

Yes, it was Sylvester Stallone who wrote the iconic Rocky film in the first place. Although the star had appeared in several small roles in films and television shows, it was Rocky that shot his professional career to stardom.

Rocky, which was released in 1976, is a sports drama film based on boxing. Stallone got the inspiration to write the classic film after he witnessed a match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner.

While speaking to Howard Stern in a 2005 interview, the 76-year-old star revealed that he had written the script in a short period of time but had to make several changes to make it work. He added:

“It sounds pretentious, but it took three days—of which 90 percent was terrible. But the idea was there. That was it. And then after that, it took maybe 25 rewrites. You have to keep going, like, one day you’ll say, ‘Can we make the Black guy Jamaican? Can we make this guy—so you have to—[imitates Jamaican patois]—you have to change the dialogue.”

The star also revealed that the studio was not convinced with his script in the first place since there was no commercially successful actor attached to it. While talking to Michael Watson, Sylvester Stallone revealed that the producers gave him $360,000 for the script and asked him not to play the lead role of Rocky Balboa in the film.

At the time, Sylvester Stallone only had a few bucks left in his bank account. The producers eventually gave in and offered Stallone one million dollars to make the film with himself as the star.

“I thought, ‘You know what? You’ve got this poverty thing down. You really don’t need much to live on.’ I sort of figured it out. I was in no way used to the good life. So I knew in the back of my mind that if I sell this script. and it does very very well, I’m going to jump off a building if I’m not in it. There’s no doubt in my mind. I’m going to be very, very upset. So this is one of those things, when you just roll the dice and fly by the proverbial seat of your pants and you just say, ‘I’ve got to try it. I’ve just got to do it. I may be totally wrong, and I’m going to take a lot of people down with me, but I just believe in it.’”

Moreover, Sylvester Stallone was only given 28 days to shoot the entire film.

After Rocky was released, the film garnered over $200 million and went on to bag three Oscars and nine nominations. Later, Stallone would write, direct, and star in the films Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1990), and Rocky Balboa (2006).