Tony Bellew is set to reprise his role as ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan in Creed 3 after previously starring in the first Rocky spin-off six years ago.
In 2016, the former WBC champion for cruiserweight made his acting debut with Sylvester Stallone, Michael B. Jordan and others.
Bellew played the main in-ring opponent of Adonis Creed – the grandson of Apollo Creed – and the character who the entire franchise is based around.
Conlan drops Creed, and Jordan is revealed in a scene in the movie. He actually received a punch from Bellew that left him ‘seeing stars’.
As if cracking the movie’s big star wasn’t enough, ‘Bomber’ almost got into a physical altercation with someone else during his first movie set experience.
In 2015, TMZReports say that Bellew and another actor got heated on set. According to reports, Stallone had to stop a fight between Bellew and another actor on set before police were dispatched to investigate.
The details about the event are still scarce, except for last year, when the attacker of Bellew spoke out publicly about the incident.
Malik Bazille played a character named Amir in the first Creed film and was on set with Bellew for a particularly long shoot when tempers flared.
According to the comedian and actor, he did nothing wrong and Bellew’s anger towards him was simply a case of mistaken identity.
“We’re on the set of Creed and the studio heads are there, it’s a long 14-hour day,” Bazille said on The Fighter and The Kid podcast in 2021.
“Ryan Coogler – the director – he’d do these weird spots where he would watch playback and this time he was under the ring, no one can see him.”
From his position out of view, Coogler begins to give direction to Bellew by repeatably telling him to ‘sell the body shot’. However, the now-retired boxer thinks the background actor is the one barking orders at him and doesn’t take kindly to it.
“We cut. I’m chilling and talking to the extras. I’m chopping it up and he goes, ‘Malik, don’t ever tell me to f***ing sell a body shot. I know how to f***ing sell a body shot,’” Bazille added.
The two men, who had been separated by the ring, exchange a few words before Bellew leapt out and attempted to confront Bazille.
Despite no punches being thrown, the set panicked and called police. Bazille was taken back to his trailer and assigned security. Bellew was kept away for the remainder of the day.
“Literally, people called the press, the police, because the extras thought, ‘Oh, we love Malik. Malik looked like he was about to get killed,’ he continued
“I was in the trailer. We were separated for the entire day. We had to travel in separate vans back from the hotel. However we stayed in one hotel.
“This is the funny part of the story. I’m in the front seat and I’ve got security and all that. Andre Ward goes, ‘How does it feel when you’re about to get you’re a** beat and still survive?’”
Bazille clearly had no hard feelings about the incident which he laughed about while suggesting it was triggered by four consecutive days shooting the same scene and Coogler’s ‘weird’ directing style.
