10 More Movie Mistakes That Became Canon
2. Rocky's Trunks Are The Wrong Colour - Rocky
In our previous article on this subject, we discussed how the original Rocky made the titular boxer's (Sylvester Stallone) accidentally oversized wardrobe part of the plot, allowing it to further underline his status as a rough-around-the-edges underdog.
But that wasn't the only mistake which enhanced Rocky's scrappiness.
Due to a miscommunication between the costume department and production designers, the banner of Rocky hanging in the arena ahead of his big fight with Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) depicted him in the wrong coloured trunks.
In the final fight he wears white trunks with a red trim, but in the banner the colours are flipped.
According to director John G. Avildsen, the artist who painted the banner was given a reference image of Stallone to work from where he was wearing the wrong trunks, and because the production had no money to have it repainted, they simply made it a small part of the story.
Prior to the fight, Rocky points out the discrepancy to the fight promoter, who dismissively retorts, "Doesn't really matter, does it?" It's a brilliant exchange which further emphasises the fact that Rocky is basically a total afterthought compared to Apollo.