Sylvester Stallone is cutting Rocky IV’s robot for publicity and to save money, says the robot’s creator. Released in 1985, the fourth film in the Rocky franchise turned out to be one of the most over-the-top in terms of action, as Stallone’s Rocky took on hulking Russian Ivan Drago in a revenge match after Drago’s merciless punches led to the death of Rocky’s friend Apollo Creed.
The entire Rocky-Creed-Drago drama from the 1985 film of course came back around in 2018’s Creed 2, as Apollo’s son Adonis stepped into the ring against Ivan Drago’s son Viktor, with Rocky reduced to fretting on the sidelines. After seeing the excitement of fans over the return of the old Rocky vs. Drago rivalry in Creed 2, Stallone quickly turned his attention back to Rocky IV, promising a new director’s cut for the 35th anniversary. A small controversy later ensued however when Stallone revealed he would be cutting some of Rocky IV’s most divisive scenes, specifically the early ones where Rocky gives his old friend Paulie a talking robot servant for a birthday present. A very jarringly ‘80s depiction of technology, the robot either contributes to the film’s quaint charm or represents an unforgivably ridiculous turn of events, depending on one’s point of view.
Stallone seemingly falls on the side of those who think the robot is just too absurd, but at least one person thinks the actor-director has ulterior motives in excising the robot’s scenes from the movie. Speaking to Empire Magazine, Sico the robot’s creator Robert Doornick explained what he thinks are the real reasons Stallone wants the robot cut. In his mind, it comes down to publicity and saving money:
“I was in my office when I found out. I was deluged with messages: ‘How can Stallone do that?’ But I know why he’s doing it, because I know he loves the robot. By causing turmoil among the fans of Sico, it generates more publicity. And by removing the robot from the movie, it saves money in royalty fees, because he is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Sico receives cheques all the time – and of course he sends them over to me.”
Stallone for his part was rather curt in his remarks about removing Sico from the movie, saying during an exchange on Instagram “The robot is going to the junkyard forever. No more robot.” Indeed, such a blunt statement would seem to contradict Doornick’s claim that Stallone “loves” the robot. Doornick however may have a point about Stallone seeking publicity by removing Sico, as his announcement that the robot is headed for the junkyard has indeed stirred up a lot of Rocky fans, many of whom are willing to defend what to others are arguably the worst scenes in the entire franchise (and there have been a few bad scenes throughout the history of the Rocky franchise). As for Doornick’s claim that Stallone is making his move to avoid paying a royalty, it seems unlikely that any residual checks to Doornick’s company at this point would be very large, so Stallone likely wouldn’t save all that much by cutting the robot.
No doubt many Rocky fans will miss Sico the robot when Rocky IV the director’s cut comes out, but at the end of the day Stallone is the film’s director and he gets the final call on what goes into his cut of the movie. If he’s cutting the scenes for the reasons Doornick lays out, then it’s arguably rather sad. If however he’s cutting them for pacing reasons, or simply because he thinks the robot strikes the wrong tone for Rocky IV, then that’s a different story. With all that said, the best reason for cutting the robot may be that it’s simply a mean joke to play on Paulie, giving him a robot for his birthday because he has no friends. A great all-time movie character, Paulie certainly deserves better than to be mocked by a droid.
Source: Empire