Veteran action star Sylvester Stallone has called out Irwin Winkler, the producer behind the Rocky films and its sequel series Creed, for allegedly denying him the rights to the franchise for almost five decades now.
Stallone once again voiced his frustrations regarding his lack of ownership over the popular film franchises he helped conceive.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, the 76-year-old actor took a swipe at the filmmaker as he shared a portrait of Winkler morphed as a knife-tongued serpent.
“A very flattering portrait of the great Rocky/Creed producer, Irwin Winkler, from one of the country’s greatest."
“After Irwin controlling Rocky for over 47 years, and now Creed, I really would like to have at least a little (of) WHAT’S LEFT of my rights back, before passing it on to ONLY YOUR CHILDREN — I believe that would be a fair gesture from this 93-year-old gentleman?" Stallone wrote.
The star and writer of Rocky said this was a "painful subject that eats at my soul".
"... because I wanted to leave something of Rocky for my children, but it’s always great hearing from the loyal fans… Keep punching," he added.
A day ago, Stallone had criticised Winkler's son David's recently published memoir The Arrangement: A Love Story, calling it "by far the worst" book he had read.
In the note on Instagram, the actor had termed Winkler "the remarkably untalented and parasitical Producer of Rocky and Creed".
"If it wasn’t for Winkler there would’ve been at least another three Rocky’s, that would’ve been wonderful,” he had said.
Rocky, the first film in the six-movie franchise, was conceived by, written by and starred Stallone, who went on to score Oscar nominations for best actor and original screenplay.
The 1976 boxing drama won the trophies for the best picture, best director for John G. Avildsen and best film editing for Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad at the 49th Academy Awards.
According to Variety, Stallone received first-dollar gross on the early Rocky sequels and earned net points off of the 1976 original, which cost just over $1 million to produce and grossed $225 million globally, but he maintains he has been deprived of an equity stake in the franchise.
In 2019, Winkler said he was surprised to learn that Stallone was dissatisfied with his stake in the franchise, pointing to the tens of millions of dollars he received in profit participation and upfront fees. An insider had said that Stallone made more than $10 million on both Creed, fronted by Michael B Jordan, and its 2018 sequel, films he both starred in and produced.
A third film in the Creed series is scheduled to be released later this year. The movie is headlined and helmed by Jordan in his feature directorial debut with Stallone serving as producer.