A ‘Rocky IV’ Director’s Cut Is Coming, But Paulie’s Robot Won’t Be In It
Sylvester Stallone is bringing us a Rocky IV Director’s Cut, and while Apollo will still die, a second cast member is meeting his demise as well.
According to a post by Stallone on his official Instagram account, a new cut of the film is coming this November. “For the 35th anniversary Rocky 4 Is getting a new DIRECTORS cut by me,” Stallone said. “So far it looks great. Soulful.. Thank you MGM For this opportunity to entertain.”
Stallone, who is quite responsive to fans on his Instagram, also went into a little detail about the new cut would include. In response to a comment, he said the new cut will be “more soulful” and the fights more impactful.
The original cut of the film was reportedly two-and-a-half hours long, but Stallone had to cut it to 91 minutes. That original cut reportedly included some significant background and character development for the Drago character. It is also known that the final fight in Russia used enough film stock to make its own two-hour film, so we may see an extended fight at the end.
However, many comments and questions were focused on Paulie’s robot, who appears in the film after Rocky gives it to his brother-in-law as a birthday gift. Stallone has indicated that the inclusion of the robot was a last-minute addition that he felt took away from the seriousness of the film. With this director’s cut, it appears Stallone is correcting that cinematic mistake.
“I don’t like the robot anymore,” he mentioned to one commenter. “The robot is going to the junkyard forever. No more robot,” he tells another.
While the robot doesn’t exactly make for great cinema, fans of the film have learned to embrace it over the past 35 years. And some of them don’t want to see it go.
Stallone appears adamant that the robot is history, going so far as to joke with commenters with responses like “HATE THE ROBOT!” and responding to a plea to keep it with the declaration that it is “already in the junkyard.”
For what it’s worth, the robot (who actually had the name SICO) had other roles, including appearing at EPCOT and on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”
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