Rocky Balboa (film) - Cast

Cast

• Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, retired boxer and former two-time heavyweight champion.
• Burt Young as Paulie Pennino, Rocky's moody brother-in-law, best friend and Adrian's brother
• Milo Ventimiglia as Robert Balboa, Rocky's only son.
• Geraldine Hughes as Marie, a woman whom Rocky originally met over thirty years ago (as seen in the first installment of the movie series).
• James Francis Kelly III as Stephenson ("Steps"), Marie's son, whom Rocky befriends.
• Tony Burton as Tony "Duke" Evers, Rocky's trainer who has been his head cornerman since Balboa's second fight with James "Clubber" Lang in Rocky III. Duke previously trained Apollo Creed, who was Rocky's nemesis in the first two films and later his friend and in the third and fourth films.
• Antonio Tarver as Mason "The Line" Dixon, Rocky's opponent. Dixon is shown as the current undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, but a fighter who is not shown the same respect as Rocky was when he was the world champion.

Talia Shire as Adrian Balboa, was in the first few drafts of the script of what was originally called Rocky VI: Puncher's Chance. At this point, the story revolved around Rocky running a local gym for youths. However, Stallone felt that the film lacked the necessary emotional impact it needed. So, he and Shire came to an agreement that her character would be best left out of the film, as this would create an emotional chasm for Rocky from the very first moment of the film. To ensure that fans did not think she had been written out of the film because of a dispute with Stallone or because she refused to be in it, Shire made a public statement supporting Stallone's decision to kill off the character. Her character does not appear in the film except in photographs and during flashbacks, using footage from earlier Rocky films, but her name appears in the final credits.