Old is new again: "Rocky" returns

Los Angeles - The distant past came to life again on Wednesday night at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Thirty years after Sylvester Stallone took the world by storm by writing and starring in the underdog story of "Rocky," he's at it again. Premiering "Rocky Balboa," the sixth (and presumably final) film in the saga of the Philadelphia boxer with the big heart, Stallone proudly comes full circle from his past to his present.

Joined on the red carpet by his original "Rocky" family ( Talia Shire and Burt Young) as well as most of his real-life family (mom Jackie, brother Frank, wife Jennifer Flavin, kids Sage, Scarlet, Sistine, Sophia), Stallone just couldn't stop smiling. Part of his happiness was certainly pride in getting "Rocky Balboa" made, and part was his joy in seeing so many famous friends joining him for this final chapter.

There was California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger giving Bruce Willis a bear hug; pretty women Sharon Stone, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Hayden Panettiere, Garcelle Beauvais, and Barbi Benton; and a posse of sharp-dressed pals - James Caan, Christian Slater, Kelsey Grammer, Dolph Lundgren, Oded Fehr, and Kevin Connolly - just to name a few.

Everyone came out to admire Stallone's perseverance in getting the final chapter of the story made; earlier, Stallone met with reporters at a press conference, and explained just why Rocky needed to come out fighting one more time.

"I have to admit, that I had this real beast in me, it's been gnawing at me for ten, twelve years, over how badly Rocky fared [in the fifth film]. I take all the blame for that, I think it was a reflection of my lack of focus at the time, and it just was translated on to film, it's really interesting, it's almost a CAT scan of where you are," Stallone reflected. "And it really defeated all the other Rocky's, and it bothered me, because the people that had been so loyal to it. So that beast was finally eliminated with this film."

And as his "Rocky" films have in the past, this new one mirrors the place where the larger-than-life actor finds himself in his real life.

"I would be trying to fool you if I said, 'Oh yeah, it's not an alter ego, but just an out-of-body experience [playing Rocky], has nothing to do with me.' No, the issues that work [in the films] are very personal issues, and I've been lucky enough to be able to take what has been bothering me, questions I've asked about life in general, and have the body of Rocky to put it into, [to express them through]," he admitted.

Naturally, returning to a character after thirty years means addressing the aging process as part of the story; that's a subject Stallone has been thinking about a lot as he hit age 60 earlier this year.

"As I get older, and Rocky says it in this film, the older I get, the more things I gotta leave behind. That's life. And no one prepares you for that. And you think that it gets easier when you get older, it doesn't!" he laughs.

Stallone says he finds himself at ease with where he is in his life, a place that makes "Rocky Balboa" a sort of culmination of all his past needs and desires.

"At the very end, I want to feel as though I've gotten my most enjoyment out of this life, I still want to try all the things I've never tried. And quite often that doesn't happen [for people]. But the dream is, to do that. To be fulfilled. And at the very end I don't think it's about having money, I don't think it's about acquisition, having land, having this and that, I think peace of mind, as a mature person, is number one," he pondered, then continued.

"Where you feel as though, god, I'm really at peace with myself, the beast is out, I've done most of the things I've wanted, I've raised my children. And, yes, I've maybe had to sell out a few times in my life, because we all have to sell out on the road of life, but in the very end I made up for that and did it my way, and I feel good about being myself. And I think that kind of sense of peace is what I was fighting for in this film."