There aren’t many actors that everyone will attest to just being an all-around great guy. Carl Weathers was one of those people. You may have first hated him as Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies, but I bet you jumped out of your seat when Rocky beat Apollo while racing down the beach in Rocky 3. And I guarantee you were the first to cry when his character is beaten to death by Ivan Drago in Rocky 4.
He shined in whatever role he was given. Chubbs in Happy Gilmore. Freddie in The Comebacks. And even Carl playing Carl in Arrested Development.
Today, when we heard Carl had passed away at age 76, we thought about those 10 minutes. What a gift it was. Thanks for the memories, Carl. We will definitely miss you. Here are some highlights from that interview:
Carl, you have been a dream interview for years for us.
“Oh, fantastic. Thank you.”
I mean, we’re huge fans. You even sound like Carl Weathers. That’s awesome.
“[laughter] It’s nice to know.”
So you’re rocking it. “Brothers,” Sunday nights on Fox. Are you giving Strahan acting tips?
“I wish I could say I was, but the guy is so talented and he’s such a natural, and he is such a great guy to be around. There are no tips. His work ethic is just, I mean, it’s stellar, man. So, he’s actually an inspiration in a lot of ways because he’s a fun guy and he’s a guy who just comes to do the work, and there’s never any, there’s just no issues, you know? So it’s great to have a guy who comes from the NFL at the level that Mike did and to see him just succeed. I just love it.”
Why do football players always make such good actors better than other athletes?
“Well, that’s a good question. I don’t know the answer to it, really but I think there is something about the world of football and the form of entertainment that it is. It just seems to, if a guy like Mike who is photogenic and a guy is smart, and the guy is articulate, and the guy is a quick study as he is, who just, the camera seems to love him, who has that ability. It just works time and time again, and just seems that football, I guess, provides the kind of world that best suits what guys in front of the camera who are actors do, and maybe much more so than a lot of other sports do.”
If football players make great actors, why is it that the co-stars of Predators make such good governors.
“Funny that you ask. I don’t know. I think those egos in Predator were so substantial that the guys in that movie all seemed to think, we could do anything. So maybe there’s the answer, I don’t know. But you had guys there involved, myself included, who always had tremendous aspirations. As they perspired, they aspired. [chuckle] So, maybe that’s the answer. It was a little… Obviously though, a little infectious because the politics on that set didn’t seem to be as pervasive as the politics after the movie was made seemed to be, and how it carried, certainly Arnold and Jesse into governorship.”
What was that like? That must have been like a huge, like, pissing contest with all those egos.
“Constantly, constantly, constantly. We had so much fun with it though, because, as much as you can push another guy when you’re in an environment like that, if he for a moment shows a crack in his armor, boy, you just get in and you just, [chuckle] you’re like a vampire. You go in and suck the blood out of him. But in that case, those egos were so huge. Nobody would let anybody get the best of them. It just was. And also, how do you retain your own personality despite how another guy might try to mess with you and bring you down? It was just great every day to be with a group of guys like that. Just a lot of sweat. Didn’t have to worry about your wardrobe, didn’t have to worry about makeup. It didn’t matter. You just got there and mowed down the jungle.”
When you walk down the street, Carl, I mean, what do you usually get the most when people shout out at you? Do you get Apollo, do you get Chubbs? Do you get Action Jackson?
“It depends on where I am, different age groups. It’s funny, if you’re anywhere from a 16 to a 20 something, it’s either Chubbs, Arrested Development. If it’s a family group, it’s Predator or mostly, Rocky but sometimes Predator pops up. And if it’s just those sort of geeks who love action movies, then of course it’s gonna be Predator. There’s just no question about it. So it’s just kind of funny. And most recently, obviously people who love comedy, between Arrested Development and Brothers. I mean, that seems to be the thing.”
You appear in the first four Rocky movies. Do you have a personal favorite moment from those films?
“Wow. That’s a good question. Well, I mean, first of all, the first Rocky was just, it was just, it was what it was, man. It was sort of the genesis of a career that’s lasted for a long time. Even though I’d done work before that, that was the thing that sort of put me in people’s minds and in front of people in a particular way. I don’t know about a favorite moment. I think of all the things that are memorable for me was in Rocky 4 being on the same stage with James Brown.”
Yes. Living in America.
“Growing up as a kid and an icon like James Brown, and then to actually wind up on the stage with him. I mean, that’s, man, that’s… How many people can say that one of… An American icon you shared the stage with and had a great time being on stage with him. So that was a special moment.”
Do you still have your patriotic shorts? They let you keep those?
“I do have my patriotic shorts. How could I lose them, man? No way. [laughter] No way could I lose the patriotic shorts.”
All the times that you and Stallone were doing all those things, you must’ve popped him a few times, right?
“It happened that he popped me a few times too, so it wasn’t like I was the only one doing the hitting. Boy, I’ll tell you, this guy for all his power and everything else, he made quite a few mistakes there with pulling those punches. Sometimes they didn’t get pulled.”
Wow. But come on, Weathers versus Stallone, you’d take Weathers every time.
“Well, from your mouth to God’s ear, [laughter] I would pick Weathers every time.”