While Coogler is penning the script with his friend Aaron Covington, he confirmed that Stallone would be substantially involved in the writing process.
“He wrote every Rocky movie there ever was, so although I’m writing the script, I’ll definitely talk to him about it,” he insisted. “Not only because he invented these characters, but because he’ll have to be an actor in the film, so it’s talking to him in both ways.
“Rocky isn’t the main character in the story, but he’s a major supporting player. And nobody knows that character like him; in the few meetings that I’ve had with him, sometimes he’ll talk like Rocky.
“We’ll be talking about a scene, and he’ll kind of go into acting mode. It’s unnerving how good of an actor Stallone is – if I can get Stallone and Mike together in the same frame, the camera might explode.”