finds Rocky Balboa – not entirely unlike his creator,
Stallone – now a superstar of the first magnitude. As a
filmmaker, Stallone jumped at the chance to share with his
audience a hard-hitting look at both sides of the coin when
it comes to having the international spotlight thrust on a
celebrity’s life, whether or not one is up to those
demands.
To accomplish this radical departure
in change of visual feel and texture from Rocky and Rocky
II, director Stallone worked closely with trusted
director of photography, Bill Butler, to consciously capture
the documentary-like cinema verite, harsh intrusion
of celebrities of all sorts.
Stallone explained that Rocky III
is meant to "remind the audience of how TV
documentaries and the TV news look when they follow a
celebrity around in his private life. We used a
hand-held Steadicam a lot to get the feeling that we are
invading Rocky's privacy. The audience should feel
like the camera is eavesdropping."
Talia Shire commented at the time of
filming that she was "especially pleased to find that
Sylvester had written into the script several scenes of
recognizably real domestic strife between husband and
wife." Talia, who in real life had just undergone a
divorce from her husband David Shire since she’d last
played Adrian Balboa on screen, added that both she and the
audience know exactly "how much hard work has to go
into any relationship to make it last", even for Rocky
and Adrian.
III marks the
first appearances of two 80's pop-culture icons: Mr. T and Hulk
Hogan, a pair of performers who would, after their
respective debuts in this film, jettison any forms of
credibility and become cartoon-like celebrities. Rocky
III ended up providing Mr. T with his number-one catchphrase
- "I pity the fool."
Not to be pitied were Rocky III's
European audiences, who were treated to several special
alternate versions of the film produced for the overseas
theatrical release. Some added scenes included an
exchange of glances between Rocky and Clubber Lang during
the charity bout with Thunderlips; a romance scene between
Rocky and Adrian immediately prior to the unveiling of the
Rocky Statue; a longer dialogue between Apollo and Rocky in
Mickey's Gym and later, a funeral march for Mickey.
The
Rocky Statue became a celebrity in itself that year.
When the press all over
America learned of the 9-foot-tall, 800 pound bronze
sculpture commissioned by the producers of Rocky III
as an integral prop for the film, dozens of news editors
assigned their best photographers around the country to
track down the artist’s studio in Colorado, in hopes of
shooting a photo of the giant piece as a scoop before the Rocky
III moviemakers would get their chance to unveil the
mighty prop atop the steps outside the Philadelphia Museum
of Art. Try as they might, no photographer could find the
finished work, and still the media fanned out further to get
their shot before it arrived on location in Philly. And all
this for naught, since the mysterious piece turned up on
the steps before anyone could unofficially unveil it. No one
had guessed that the 800 pound giant had simply traveled
cross-country in style – by train.
Besides the standard Rocky
locations in and around Philadelphia, shooting also took
place in California and Nevada. In Los Angeles, the
historic Biltmore
Hotel was used as the exterior façade for Rocky's
palatial gym. Specially created "Rocky
Balboa" banners were hung outside the hotel's entrance
and are visible in the film. Also used was the MGM
Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
