Stallone visits iconic Rocky statue in Philadelphia with family

WASHINGTON: Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, who played the role of Rocky Balboa in the 'Rocky' franchise movies, recently along with his family visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art where the iconic training montages of his character were filmed.

According to Fox News, the Stallone family made their way back to the famous location to see the Rocky statue, and the actor shared a video to his Instagram, filled with emotion of him visiting the landmark.

In it, he said, "I don't get here very often with the family and I thought I would break into my own line to see the statue."

"I don't get to visit Rocky very often. When I do, it's emotional," the actor continued. He then went up to the statue and filmed his family all posing in front of the landmark.

While the 'Rocky' movies are filled with training montages, one of the most popular and well known takes place while Balboa, a Philadelphia-based boxer is preparing to fight the heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed, who is played by Carl Weathers in the original film, reported Fox News.

During that training montage, Balboa takes a run through various Philadelphia neighbourhoods, mixed in with clips of him training at the gym. The montage ends at the Art Museum. After reaching the top of the steps, the boxer throws his hands up in triumph.

Another popular Rocky run happens in the second 'Rocky' movie when Balboa is preparing for a rematch with Creed. Fast-forward to 'Rocky III', a statue is created in Balboa's honour and placed near the bottom of the steps.

Even though the statue was created for the movie, it has become a popular real-life landmark that is visited by many, as per Fox News. Stallone played Balboa in six 'Rocky' movies from 1976 through 2006.

He then played the character again in the 2015 movie 'Creed' and the 2018 sequel, 'Creed II', both starring Michael B. Jordan.