Before Rocky Balboa became one of cinema’s most famous underdogs, Sylvester Stallone was fighting a battle of his own.
“I Play Rocky,” a new biographical drama from Amazon MGM Studios, recounts how the then-unknown actor refused to give up the lead role in “Rocky,” the screenplay he had written and believed could change his life.
Anthony Ippolito stars as the young Stallone in the film, directed by Academy Award winner Peter Farrelly. It opens in select theaters Nov. 6 before expanding nationwide later in November, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the original “Rocky.”
The film follows Stallone as he faces repeated rejection while trying to sell his script. Despite interest in the screenplay, he holds firm on one condition: He must play Rocky Balboa himself.
That gamble eventually resulted in the 1976 boxing drama “Rocky,” which became a box-office phenomenon, won the Academy Award for best picture and launched a franchise that later expanded through the “Creed” films.
Ippolito, who previously portrayed a young Al Pacino in the Paramount+ series “The Offer,” leads an ensemble that includes AnnaSophia Robb, Toby Kebbell, P.J. Byrne, Jay Duplass, and Kiki Seto, with Matt Dillon, Stephan James, and Tracy Letts. James portrays Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the original film.
Farrelly directs from a screenplay by Peter Gamble. Producers include Toby Emmerich, Christian Baha, Farrelly, Paul Currie, and Michele Weiss.
“I Play Rocky” turns the making of one of Hollywood’s best-known underdog stories into an underdog story of its own—centered on Stallone’s conviction that he wasn’t only meant to write Rocky. He was meant to be him.
Watch the trailer for “I Play Rocky” today on YouTube.
