Screenwriter Sylvester Stallone

For the Writers Guild of America, west, Dylan Callaghan talks to screenwriter Sylvester Stallone about his new film, Rocky Balboa. He stars in it as well, apparently.

I've read that you like to write fast, so you write fast but you're a big rewriter?

Unbelievable. You have no idea.

Well give me an idea. How many drafts did you do with this film?

I would say like 20. I love to rewrite, I really do. What happens is I'll start just working a scene, and I'll touch up that dialogue and add a little situation here and then it grows. I also ask myself, “If there was no dialogue, what could I do to make this scene more interesting?” An example is the scene where Rocky goes to the graveyard. How do I say he goes there a lot? I don't want him saying, “You know, I go to this graveyard every day.” So I gave him a wooden folding chair that he puts back up in a tree when he leaves. That says that he lives in the graveyard.

Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa, a film that he also wrote and directed.