“I Gotta Have Faith in Myself”: First Trailer for ‘I Play Rocky’ Gives Us a New Look at an Icon
The first trailer for director Peter Farrelly’s ‘I Play Rocky’ has punched its way online. Originally announced in 2024, I Play Rocky stars Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone and documents the now-famous writer and director’s tumultuous experience in creating and filming the 1976 boxing film, Rocky.
Starring and written by Stallone himself, the film follows a down-on-his-luck local boxer named Rocky Balboa as he is given the chance to face the heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). On the road to the big fight, Rocky falls for the shy Adrian (Talia Shire) and bonds with both her alcoholic brother Paulie (Burt Young) and the curmudgeonly old boxing coach, Mickey (Burgess Meredith). This unlikely cast of characters becomes Rocky’s main motivation and backbone as he prepares for the biggest fight of his life on the world stage. A true underdog movie (both narratively and figuratively), Sylvester Stallone famously sold the movie on the condition that he, an unknown at the time whose most famous role was in the Roger Corman-produced Death Race 2000, would star. The move paid off, as Rocky would not only make $225 million at the box office on a $1 million budget, but would also take home the Academy Award for Best Picture. This new film from director Peter Farrelly is set to document the incredible tale of Rocky’s development and production. True to the production of the real film, this biographical take puts emphasis on Stallone’s unprecedented underdog story and how he, like his most famous character, went the distance and took Hollywood by storm almost half a century ago.
The bio-pic is directed by Peter Farrelly from a script by Peter Gamble. It stars Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone, Matt Dillon as Frank Stallone Sr, AnnaSophia Robb as Sasha Czack, P.J. Byrne as Irwin Winkler, Toby Kebbell as Robert Chartoff, Tracy Letts as Sandy Maddox, Jay Duplass as John G. Avildsen and Kiki Seto as Talia Shire.
This new trailer opens with a down-on-his-luck Sylvester Stallone narrating that he has a true passion for acting and that he needs to have faith in himself, before being told by his girlfriend, Sasha Czack, that he needs to show everyone who he truly is. His father, however, calls Sylvester delusional because of his acting dreams. We then see Sasha encouraging Sylvester to write a script, as he begins to write Rocky. Encouraged to give himself the lead in the film, we see Stallone go to Los Angeles to pitch his big movie. Despite liking his script, he encounters resistance from producers at Chartoff–Winkler Productions about playing the lead. What comes next is a humorous montage of executive Sandy Maddox attempting to buy Stallone out, but Sly refusing to budge. Acquiescing to his demands, he gets his leading role, but under strict stipulations. We are then shown several scenes of the film’s production, along with Stallone’s trials and doubts about himself.
The trailer ends with recreations of several iconic shots from the 1976 film, ending on the image of Rocky (and by extension, Stallone himself) throwing his arms up in triumph over the backdrop of Philadelphia.
I Play Rocky comes hot on the heels of other biographical films such as Michael and Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. Star Anthony Ippolito even had a big break as Al Pacino in the 2022 Paramount+ series The Offer, which chronicled the development of The Godfather, so he is no stranger to this extremely popular sub-genre of film. Time will tell, however, if I Play Rocky can match the likes of the audience-pleasing Michael Jackson biopic Michael, which recently crossed $1 billion at the box office.
One thing is for certain, however: I Play Rocky looks to have enough heart and soul to easily be a good representation of one of the most uplifting films of all time.