*“Creed II” marks director Steven Caple Jr.’s second feature and, as we previously reported, the drama had a knockout $55 million Thanksgiving holiday weekend opening.
The sequel to the 2015 original reunites stars Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson and Sylvester Stallone, and serves as the eighth installment in the Rocky film series. The story centers on the son of heavyweight champ Apollo Creed (Michael B. Jordan) and his quest to avenge the death of his father in a fight against Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), the father of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Stallone reprises his role as Rocky Balboa.
Caple explained to The Root how he put his own stamp on the franchise and noted the importance of showing Black families in cinema.
“When I got the call to do Creed, I was working on this TV show Grown-ish,” Caple said. “I was excited like anyone else would be but at the same time, you know, it came with a different wave of emotions. I was a bit nervous as well because the first one did so well. You want to make sure that it is good as the first one if not better.”
Here what he had to say about the importance of Black fathers on screen in the video above.
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In an interview with Uproxx, Caple revealed that he originally intended to have Clubber Lang (Mr. T) from “Rocky III” enhance the “Creed II” story.
“I’m not going to lie. There was a moment where I got pretty stingy and was thinking about Clubber Lang. I was like, ‘Dang, wouldn’t it be cool if we brought in Clubber Lang?’ And I think there was a version of this where Mike was also talking about it too. Like him having a daughter or something like that out in the West or New Mexico. We were playing with a lot of different ideas. But no, I don’t know if Clubber Lang will come back.”
Caple says he also found it creatively fulfilling to make characters like Ivan Drago seem “human.”
“He’s an interesting character. And just to see where he’d be at now, where they try make him grounded and seeing where Mr. T is at. Again, nostalgia and just finding a way to bring back characters, but in 2018 and 2019 they have a more modern day level and will always be interesting. You know what I mean? I love challenges like that. Trying to make Drago human. How to make Clubber Lang human. Like, where is he at today? Those are the interesting routes to go in developing characters. That’s my favorite part of character development.”
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