The new film ‘I Play Rocky,’ starring Anthony Ippolito, depicts the making of the 1976 film *Rocky* by focusing on the struggles of Sylvester Stallone before his breakthrough. The movie retraces the making of the classic underdog story by telling the behind-the-scenes story of its creation.
The winning idea behind the film, written by Peter Gamble and directed by Peter Farrelly, was to fashion the behind-the-scenes story into its own rousing tale of triumph. *Rocky* was the top-grossing film of 1976 and won the Academy Award for best picture the following year, and remains a pop-culture landmark half a century later.
Actor Anthony Ippolito, who previously portrayed Al Pacino in the miniseries *The Offer*, plays Stallone. Ippolito secured the role after sending in a self-taped audition. Filmmakers believed he was the right choice, with some suggesting he may be a better actor than Stallone himself. (Seriously, have you tried watching *Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot?*)
The film begins in New York, where a young Stallone, then going by Mike, worked a series of dead-end jobs while auditioning for roles as thugs and cops. He also worked as a ticket taker at a movie theater, where he met Sasha, who would become his first wife. The film depicts Stallone’s early foray into softcore pornography, titled *The Party at Kitty and Stud’s* (later re-released as *Italian Stallion*), as an economic necessity after being evicted from his rooming house.
Sixteen months later, Stallone and Sasha had relocated to Los Angeles and continued to struggle. A friendly customer at a restaurant where Stallone worked as a valet parking attendant provided an introduction to producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler. While the meeting didn’t yield immediate results, Stallone slipped his script for *Paradise Alley* into their slush pile. Chartoff and Winkler were impressed, though not enough to option it immediately, the movie would resurface two years later as Stallone’s directing debut, greenlit on the strength of his *Rocky* fame, but they invited him to return with other material.
‘I Play Rocky’ is rated PG-13 and runs for 2 hours and 8 minutes. The cast also includes AnnaSophia Robb, Toby Kebbell, P.J. Byrne, Jay Duplass, Matt Dillon, Stephan James, Tracy Letts, Kiki Seto, Erik Palladino, and Robert Morgan. The film is scheduled for release on Friday, November 6.
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