Sylvester Stallone says not being in 'Creed III' is 'a regretful situation' and the movie is going in a different direction than he would've chosen

• "Creed III" was taken in a different direction than I would have taken it, according to Sly.

• "Creed III" is the first movie in the series that doesn't feature Sly as Balboa.

• In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sly said he doesn't own the character he created.

Sly told The Hollywood Reporter that he wouldn't be reprising his role in Creed III.

"That's a regretful situation, because I know what it could have been," said the actor. I wouldn't have taken it in that direction.

The movie "Rocky" was the first movie in which Stallone wrote a script. The movie won the best picture Oscar and spawned a series of films starring Sly.

The movie "Creed," starring Michael B. Jordan as the son of Balboa's rival Apollo Creed, was released in 2015. The performance was nominated for an Academy Award.

The anticipated third movie in the "Creed" series has Jordan playing Creed for the first time, but he won't be starring in it.

The movie is different from the other ones, according to Sly. I wish them good luck, but I'm more sentimental than that. I like my heroes getting beaten up, but I don't want them to go into that dark space. People have enough darkness.

In the interview, he said that despite asking, he has never had any rights to the character.

"It's never going to happen," he stated. It was a deal that was done without my knowledge by people that I thought were close to me.

He said he didn't understand that this is a business when he first started working. I didn't know 'Rocky' would go on for 45 years. The irony is that I don't own any of the lines of dialogue from anyone else. The people who didn't do anything control it.

In August, Stallone took to social media to slam Winkler and Lundgren for developing a spin-off of their "Rocky IV" roles. He patched things up with Lundgren, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"I'm calling him today because he had an ankle injury," said Stallone. This is a classic case of them cherry picking parts of 'Rocky' without asking me if I want to join in.

I don't work on the 'Creed' movies. Ryan's is. Is Michael B. Jordan? The children of Winkler and Chartoff are. It wasn't mine. I'm the only one who hasn't been contacted.

The movie "Creed III" will be released on March 3.

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