Casting is always the biggest part of any production and can really make or break the entire situation. There were many “considerations” on the table when searching for the right actors and actresses for ROCKY. We have all heard how Talia Shire’s famous Adrian role was almost filled by Susan Sarandon but did you know that both Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford were first considered to play the movie’s lead role? The studio wanted Stallone to sell the script because it did not want him playing Rocky. Imagine, if you will, a world in which either Reynolds or Redford would have played Rocky Balboa. It is ridiculous that either man would be cast to play an underdog and journeyman fighter who slugged it out with unknowns inside of high school gyms and clubs. Stallone made the right call in refusing to allow anybody else to be Rocky.
