Creed (2015)

This film is a spinoff of the highly successful Rocky series. This one focuses on Donnie Creed, the son of fallen boxing legend Apollo Creed from the first film.

Summary

-Former heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Balboa acts as trainer/mentor to Adonis Creed, the son of former boxing legend Apollo Creed

Cast

-Michael B. Jordan: Adonis Creed

-Sylvester Stallone: Rocky Balboa

-Tessa Thompson: Bianca

-Phylicia Rashad: Mary Anne Creed

-Andre Ward: Danny "The Stuntman" Wheeler

-Tony Bellew: "Pretty" Ricky Conlon

-Ritchie Coster: Pete Sporino

-Jacob "Stitch" Duran: Stitch

-Graham McTavish: Tommy Holiday

-Wood Harris: Tony "Little Duke" Burton

Did You Know?

-During pre-production, Sylvester Stallone's son Sage died of a heart attack. Stallone admitted this sent him nearly into a full-blown mental breakdown, but Ryan Congler was able to calm him down and convince him to do this as a sort of dedication to Sage. Despite being resistant to the idea of the father-son relationships that appear in it, Stallone said at the Golden Globes that he hoped this would help him work out any issues with Sage's death

-Sylvester Stallone asked that Michael B. Jordan wear the same American flag trunks that Apollo Creed wore in the first Rocky film, Rocky III and Rocky IV to keep the tradition alive

-Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed, was extremely proud of the work Michael B. Jordan did and he gave a full endorsement to the movie and praised Michael B. Jordan's performance. Jordan felt highly honored by that

-Sylvester Stallone was 69 when this film was released. This was the same age as Burgess Meredith (Mickey) when the original film from 1976 was released

-Tony "The Bomber" Bellew, a real-life championship boxer from Liverpool, England, plays boxer "Pretty" Ricky Conlon

-The soccer game between Everton and West Brom was filmed on a Monday night. Since Stallone is an Everton fan, he asked if fans wanted to participate in the crowd shots in the film

-Andre Ward is a real-life Light Heavyweight boxing champion. He won the gold medal at the 2004 summer Olympic games in Athens, Greece. The gold medal he holds in the HBO promo scene is real and belongs to him

-During filming, Sylvester Stallone had to break up a fight between two boxers featured in this movie

-The quote Rocky says to Adonis "Women weaken legs" is the same quote that was said to Rocky by his coach Mickey in the original film

-Michael B. Jordan felt immense pressure doing this film. He says Sylvester Stallone put him at ease. Michael said "Sly did the biggest thing for me, which was to take that pressure off of me...to not worry about competing or living up to what the other Rocky films were - just to be myself."

-Michael B. Jordan underwent a strict regimen of working out 2-3 times a day, 6 days a week, a strict diet. With that, he gained 24 lbs of muscle and since he didn't have a body double, he had to learn how to box to prepare for this role

-Following the tradition of his father Apollo, Adonis is also named after someone in Greek mythology. Apollo was the god of the sun while Adonis is the demi-god of beauty and desire

-Tessa Thompson, who plays Bianca, is a real-life musician. She's part of an electro band called Caught a Ghost and three of her songs are featured here: "Grip" "Breathe" "Shed You"

-The placement of names on Donnie's uniform have a significant impact. On his shorts are the name CREED, which makes his opponent think about his father's legendary heavyweight champ title while on the back is the name JOHNSON which lets Donnie build his own name and legacy

-Both gyms used in the film, Front Street Gym and Mighty Mick's Gym are both located in the Kensington section of Philadelphia

-When Tessa Thompson and Michael B. Jordan fall asleep on the couch, the film playing on TV is Skyfall (2012)

-Tony "Little Duke" Evers, played by Wood Harris, is revealed to be the son of Duke, the trainer for Apollo and Rocky who appeared in Rocky (1976), Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1990) and Rocky Balboa (2006). Duke was played by Tony Burton

-The intro music for Adonis Creed is "Hail Mary" by Tupac Shakur. It's a rumor that Michael B. Jordan will be playing the West Coast rap legend in an upcoming biopic

-Michael B. Jordan's fighting style was inspired by real life boxers Timothy Bradley, Pernell Whitaker and Andre Ward

Andre Ward

Pernell Whitaker

Timothy Bradley

-This is only the second time that Michael B. Jordan has portrayed a boxer. The first time was on an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent titled "Inhumane Society"

-In 1969, it was said that Phylicia Rashad's movie husband Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) was coached by football coach Don Coryell at San Diego State University. In 1973, he coached her real-life ex-husband Ahmad Rashad for the St. Louis Cardinals

-Michael B. Jordan's character references a line from The Godfather (1972). This is a film, ironically, that Talia Shire starred in, as Connie Corleone. In the Rocky films, she plays Adrian. In addition, Joe Spinell, who played Tony Gazzo in the first two Rocky films, played Willie Cicci in the first two Godfather films

-During the Conan vs. Wheeler fight on SportsCenter, the scrolling ticker at the bottom indicates the Golden State Warriors NBA team beat the Los Angeles Clippers 113-86. Director Ryan Coogler is a native of Oakland and grew up in the Bay Area and is a fan of the Golden State Warriors