Adrian Pennino

And the man you think of any time you're running up a flight of stairs.

Yo, Adrian.

I did it!

Is sitting down with Andy Cohen.

She goes, "No, I just don't like him." I went, "Oh, my God." Then I realized maybe I need more characters.

Maybe I need this.

Maybe I need, like, a different kind of Adrian.

Yeah.

And when we join him in 1976, America is reaching its 200th birthday.

Rocky talks to his pet turtles, tries to get friendly with the terminally shy Adrian at the pet store, and works a deeply uncomfortable job as an enforcer, shaking down guys who owe money to loan sharks.

He knows he can be more than this, but fears he is too dumb and unappealing for anyone to ever give him a chance, despite his good heart and virtuous intentions.

Meanwhile, the wildly successful reigning champ Apollo Creed has an idea for a risky and ambitious match that will make the people feel better about themselves, trapped as they are in the malaise and disappointment following the unwinnable war in Vietnam, the shame and outrage of Nixon's recent departure following the Watergate scandal and the sneaking suspicion that the 1970s are exposing the post-World War II industrial success boom of the 1950s to be more of a show of blind faith that the American people, as well as the corporations, could thrive in a now firmly capitalist nation.

can talk.

But yeah, having them gives him a reason to keep going back to the pet store.

He says later on, we find out he bought them the day he saw Adrian in there.

So yes, it does feel a little bit like he went and got them to give him a reason to go in and talk to her and then realise that the upkeep would give him a reason to keep going back to talk to her.

But where I was, I was like...

I felt like Adrian, Rocky's wife.

At least three times I said, stop the fight! In a high voice, just like her.

And then I asked Chris Lytle afterwards.

And I thought maybe that was maybe Stallone kind of throwing a shot at the 1984 Olympics, maybe.

With that mentality, why didn't her and Adrian have a swim off at the end?

And I do believe that.

I believe that she came from that same sporting background.

And we're going to get to that as we cut to the press conference.

apollo is being his normal apollo self and rocky's even getting into the act saying the first thing you gotta get apollo is a ladder and then it's actually lamilla who pipes up and just says that it'll be a great victory and then we have a shove between drago and apollo and then apollo just goes to rocky how'd i do and rocky just goes a little well for my taste but very good i like this press conference i think it shows apollo's showmanship as you say adam very well It is that same character that we saw in those first two films.

In addition to, well, it doesn't look like Adrian and Apollo's wife are really into this.

But Matt, how do you feel about this press conference?

He's like a real fucking bum

... he's almost, he, he's almost abusive to Adrian in the first one.

I was gonna ask.

What, what the fuck? I don't remember Rocky II, but, like, Paulie comes in kinda hot.

So Rocky I and II, he's in control of a part of Rocky's life.

Right.

Right? Like, he controls Adrian.

But once he gets money and, and they're married and they're off doing their thing, he's just alone.

Honestly, I got thought the depiction of the relationship was very touching, which obviously ends up being very important as the movie gets to its end.

And then, um, I thought in general, the movie did, the series did right by Adrian and Rocky.

They never got a divorce.

There was never like substantial questions that they deeply loved each other and that they were like the most important thing in each other's lives.

And like, how do you find dignity in there? You know, and some people do and some people don't.

And, and yet, I mean, you got kind of the core four characters.

You got Rocky, you got Adrian, you got Polly, and then you got the trainer.

What's his name? Mickey.

It's there, but it's not the first-driven, second focus, but it's still been there.

Let me just say, we talked about this with Rocky II, the franchise took a turn when Adrian looked at Rocky and said, "I just want you to win." And we had the whole fanfare and everything going on in the background, and this is the result of that jump, and th- this is where we've landed.

We are in a different spot than when Frank Capra told Stallone that he wished he would've made Rocky, which actually did happen, if you ask Stallone.

Or a brand in the way that Weenies were at this time.

But at the same time, I, I think a lot of his directing in this is more style than substance.

Well, if you like the quiet scenes from the first two movies, you better get your fill in for this next scene because [laughs] it doesn't get quiet after.

We're seeing this sweet little scene between Rocky and Adrian in bed together, and Rocky's trying to serenade her, and we're also getting established that, yeah, Rocky is going to be facing a wrestler the next day.

So Rocky's just saying how much fun it's gonna be.

I said that Rocky is about a boxer.

He is dating Adrian.

He has a crotchety old trainer in Philly.

He loses the first film and he fights Apollo, who was played by Carl Weathers.

We open with a cross section of Rocky's lonely life.

He wins a local boxing match for a few measly bucks.

He flirts with Adrian, the painfully shy pet shop girl.

His nine to five is on the docks collecting money for loan sharks.