The fourth installment in the titular film series, Rocky 4, was such a massive success that it went on to gross the title of the highest-grossing sports film of all time for over two decades. With an incredible overall plotline that was the perfect mix of emotions and actions, Sylvester Stallone immaculately made his return as Balboa after the smash hit success that was Rocky 3.
But while all the elements were ideally incorporated into the 1985 masterpiece, some parts still confused fans. For instance, the talking robot that Stallone’s Balboa gifts to his brother-in-law Paulie on his birthday. However, as unreasonable as including that character may have seemed to fans, the real reason behind Stallone’s choice is actually pretty emotional.
The Real Reason Sylvester Stallone Added a Talking Robot in Rocky 4
Being the writer and director of it himself, Sylvester Stallone made a decision for Rocky 4 that seemed rather peculiar to a lot of global viewers: The inclusion of a talking robot in it. While it was somewhat understandable to the point where the actor presented the robot as a birthday gift to Paulie, the multiple scenes in which the robot was included afterward confused fans.
Obviously, it was originally felt that the robot was only added as a filler, and wasn’t one of the main elements of the film. However, that was hardly the case when it came to the Rambo actor’s perspective behind adding the robot to the cast. As it turns out, Stallone had a rather personal reason why he wanted Burt Young‘s Paulie to have a communicating robot by his side.
According to the story Robert Doornick, the CEO and creator of International Robotics Inc., shared with Trivia Happy, The Expendables actor added the talking robot into the mix because of his son, Seargeoh. This was because his son was diagnosed with autism at only 3 years of age, and Doornick had made Sico, the robot shown in the movie, to help treat Seargeoh.
Since the actor was undergoing a divorce from his then-wife Sasha Czack, he couldn’t just leave his children unattended and wanted to spend as much time close to them as possible, especially with Seargeoh. Thus, he decided to not only add Sico to the film so that Seargeoh could work with Doornick on the sets, but also wrote his older son Sage into the movie as Balboa’s son.
Additionally, since it was Doornick himself who lent his voice to the talking robot in the movie, it meant he could treat Seargeoh and work at the same time, and that, too, right under Stallone’s nose. That being said, seeing it as a win-win situation for everyone, the 78-year-old actor decided on this peculiar casting, just for the sake of his son.
Sylvester Stallone Ended Up Writing a Lot of Scenes for Sico in the Film
While including the robot was one thing, Stallone actually went on to add quite a lot of scenes for Sico with Robert Doornick providing for his voice. However, not all of them made their way into the movie. For instance, as Doornick shared with Trivia Happy, there were also certain scenes that would have shown an “odd couple relationship” between Paulie and Sico.
This happens when Sico complains how he “found it offensive to [his] sensors” that Burt Young’s character “always slept in the same t-shirt and made too much cigar smoke.” This leads to Paulie shutting the robot down before opening his back panel and changing the circuits “to turn the robot completely female.” That explains the sudden change in the voice of the robot.
As Doornick continued to confess:
Most people in the movie don’t understand why the robot switched from a normal voice to a female voice. That’s why.
As for how they did it? Well, they simply synthesized Doornick’s voice into a woman’s voice. However, all of these efforts really turned out for nothing as the scene eventually wound up on the cutting room floor.
Nonetheless, all of this being put out there, the mystery is finally clear about why the talking robot was given such due importance in the movie: Because Sylvester Stallone loved and cared for his autistic son a bit too much, and for all the right reasons.
You can watch Rocky IV on Prime Video.
