(BY CHRIS YANDEK · for www.cyinterview.com JANUARY 4, 2007) Chris Yandek: Many people didn’t have real expectations for the Rocky Balboa movie. Are you pleased with the box office results and the fact the movie upgraded to the times of today and was it good ending this six movie franchise? Burt Young: “Well, I wouldn’t say ending. You never know with that kid Sylvester. We went back to the feeling and the grit of the first one. Stallone was like a man possessed. I know it could fair with the intensity he brought with him. It was very exciting hanging around with him.” 
CY: What did you think when Slallone called you and said I need you for one more movie in the franchise 16 years later? BY: “It didn’t happen like that really. We got turned down. He did. He wrote two scripts and he got turned down a second time. He came to me and said read this and see what might have been. Tell me what you think. I read it and I said we must do it Sylvester. You wrote three of them. It’s clear and crisp. We must do it. He says you don’t think with me being 60 years old. You can’t say no. We are gonna do Rocky Balboa so we can’t say no. We can do as people, as humans, just about anything or at least attempt. That’s how we went into it.” CY: Do you think it was hard for him when the skeptics were thinking it wasn’t believable or did you feel there were any worries about making it believable on his part? BY: “I know his wife was worried for the physical things he was going to go through. He was not only starring in it, but he was directing in it. He always had his hands on every aspect of the product. She was really scared for him, but I was very proud of him from beginning to end.” CY: Paulie seems to have a lot of regret in Rocky Balboa, is it just because he didn’t treat his sister Adrian well and now she is dead and Rocky has a hard time moving on and Paulie feels sorry for him or is it something more that Paulie is dealing with? BY: “I think this movie is a threesome. Rocky and my sister Adrian, they’re both not too bright. Together they make one person. When she is gone, it’s the story of these two men and a woman they really love in one way or another. Her presence even more than physically.” CY: Do you think people relate to Paulie’s struggles that he is older, the world has changed around him, and things aren’t what they used to be for him? BY: “Well, Paulie, I get a kick out of Paulie. Paulie I describe to myself as half empty. He’s always running on half empty. He’s a lonely guy. He is a sad guy. When he had his sister, he could have someone to blame. He could have someone to put the blame on. When he gets angry with Rocky, he has someone to put the blame on. The biggest problem he had is when he looked in the mirror and he sees it’s only his fault and that is the problem he tries to hide.” CY: Do you have a favorite story or memory from this one while on set with Stallone and the rest of the cast? BY: “One of them was the last shot of the movie out of sequence when he was running up the steps with that mange dog. It just starts to snow blurry, and the whole company, hundreds of them behind the camera watching, it was breathtaking. He became really my hero during this movie. We were fighting in Las Vegas and with a real audience they’re ready for a fight. We are leaving the arena at the end of his match and we turn him back to face his audience before exiting and the audience was thundering. It was almost too much for me to handle.”
