The Rocky and Creed film series may have been the only projects where Sylvester Stallone and the late legend Carl Weathers got to share the screen together, but the pair’s personal relationship was much greater than that.
While Stallone played the prime protagonist Rocky Balboa in all of the movies of the film series of the same name, Weathers initially played Stallone’s character’s main antagonist in the starting two movies before transforming into one of the protagonists for the remaining two films.
Because of their relationship onscreen in the initial installments, many rumors had been circulating around about the possible rivalry that Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers shared on the sets of the films during the shoot of the saga.
However, the widely commended makeup artist for the Rocky saga, Michael Westmore has recently debunked all these rumors, only further justifying how genuine Stallone’s emotional tribute to Weathers on his sudden devastating demise was.
Rocky Makeup Artist Debunks Sylvester Stallone-Carl Weathers Rivalry Rumors
Michael Westmore is one of the most renowned make-up artists in all of the entertainment industry, with his works being thoroughly applauded for being absolutely spectacular through all the 45 Emmy nods — including 9 wins, and an Oscar that he has received to date.
As it turns out, he was also the creative hand as the make-up artist on the sets of the Rocky saga. Recently, he joined The Hollywood Reporter for an interview and talked about working with the late legend Weathers and Stallone.
At the same time, it was during this same interview that Westmore also debunked all the rumors swirling around about the potential rivalry that Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers shared onset while shooting for the four installments of the Rocky film series.
Explaining working with the onscreen rivals-turned-friends and sharing the relationship they shared in real life, Michael Westmore said:
“Carl [Weathers] was amazing, such a nice man, he would do anything — he wore the rubber faces, the bruises — and he and [Sylvester] Stallone were constantly playing around. He was always laughing, always had good humor. It’s like if you had degrees of people, Carl would be one of the people on top. He was such a wonderful person.”
This revelation from make-up artist Westmore not only proved all the rumors about Sylvester Stallone and the late Carl Weathers actually being each other’s opponents in real life false but also justified just how genuine Stallone’s touching tribute to Weathers at his tragic death was.
Sylvester Stallone Shared An Emotional Tribute To Carl Weathers At His Demise
Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers had been around each other for more than a decade throughout the time that they were working on the Rocky saga together as the former embodying the titular character of Balboa and the latter embodying his nemesis-turned-ally, Apollo Creed.
Their journey went even longer than that as they once again collaborated to share their experiences for the Creed film series, which paid homage to Weathers’ character with Michael B. Jordan embodying the character of Creed this time.
This is why when news about Carl Weathers’ sudden death at the age of 76 surfaced, Sylvester Stallone was nothing short of heartbroken. As he himself said in the clip shared on his Instagram paying tribute to his longtime friend:
“Today is an incredibly sad day for me. I’m so torn up I can’t even tell you.”
While this emotional speech of his paying tribute to the late legend was more than enough to let out just how deeply attached he was to Weathers, make-up artist Michael Westmore’s recent revelation further stands as a testament to Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers’ die-hard friendship.
