20 Things You Somehow Missed In Rocky

17. The Reason Behind Rocky And Adrian's Deserted Skating Rink Date

Rocky Thumb
MGM

The film's central romance plays out between the awkward boxer Rocky and the shy Adrian. These two star-crossed paramours share a bizarre first date in an abandoned ice skating rink. In the context of the film this is a bid to save money, on the part of Rocky while still impressing his crush. Rocky bribes a janitor to let him and Adrian use the arena after hours.

The real story behind this was that Stallone originally wrote the scene to take place in a restaurant. But, he scrapped the restaurant setting because he wanted the two characters to move during the date. What better environment for this than an ice skating rink?

The only problem was that the film's budget had nowhere near the funds to fill a skating rink full of extras. So, with some creative thinking, Stallone wrote the scene in a way that would accomadate an empty arena. Easily, this is one of the most memorable scenes of the movie.

In this post: 
Rocky
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

John is a teacher and writer living in Texas. He spends far too much time watching Star Trek. Check out more if his work at artofnarrative.com