Like most "Rocky" fans, I found myself wondering why Talia Shire didn’t pop up in "Rocky Balboa." Did Sylvester Stallone simply want the character … gone, or was the actress simply unwilling to return for a fifth sequel? Well, USA Today has the answer.
"In the original script (for "Rocky Balboa"), she was alive," reveals Stallone, 60. "But it just didn’t have the same dramatic punch. I thought, ‘What if she’s gone?’ That would cut Rocky’s heart out and drop him down to ground zero." (From USA Today)
And then we get a few Q&A moments with Ms. Shire herself:
"I was aware of the possibility of Adrian (at one point) being in it and dying (on screen), but my being in the movie or not was not as interesting as how Sylvester was going to achieve this. Ultimately, I was wondering how in the world he was going to justify getting Rocky back into the ring."
