Sylvester Stallone on His New Cut of Rocky 4 and the Other Films He’d Love to Re-Edit

With Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago The Ultimate Director’s Cut now available On Demand and Digital, I recently had the chance to speak with writer-director Sylvester Stallone about re-editing the movie thirty-five years later. If you’re not aware, Stallone spent a lot of the pandemic reworking the movie, which included adding forty minutes of never-before-seen footage, re-editing the fight scenes, altering the music, adding a new opening that recaps Rocky III, and removing scenes like Paulie’s robot. While I prefer the theatrical cut, I really enjoyed getting to see this new version and the way it shows the power of editing. Many people don’t realize how even a small edit can completely change your reaction to a scene. Rocky IV also stars Brigitte Nielsen, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Michael Pataki, Robert Doornick, Talia Shire, Stu Nahan, and Tony Burton. Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff produced the feature, with Arthur Chobanian and James D. Brubaker serving as EPs. During the interview, Stal