Anthony Ippolito is set to portray Sylvester Stallone in I Play Rocky.Directed by Peter Farrelly, the biopic will chronicle the production of the hit 1976 movie Rocky.Ippolito previously played Al Pacino in The Offer, a miniseries about the making of The Godfather.<\/p>\n
Amazon MGM’s Rocky<\/a> biopic has found its Italian Stallion.\n<\/p>\n Anthony Ippolito will portray Sylvester Stallone<\/a> in I Play Rocky, a drama about the making of the hit 1976 boxing movie, a representative for the studio confirms to Entertainment Weekly.\n<\/p>\n Described as “the ultimate underdog story behind the ultimate underdog movie,” I Play Rocky will follow Ippolito’s Stallone as he insists on playing the titular boxer himself after writing the screenplay for the sports drama.\n<\/p>\n Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in ‘Rocky’.<\/p>\n Courtesy Everett<\/p>\n Ippolito won over the film’s producers, Toby Emmerich and Christian Baha, by submitting an unsolicited audition tape to them as soon as he heard about the project. “That bold move ultimately led to him landing the role \u2014 mirroring the very tenacity I Play Rocky celebrates,” Amazon MGM said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n I Play Rocky will be directed by Peter Farrelly<\/a>, who co-directed comedy hits like Dumb & Dumber and There’s Something About Mary with his brother Bobby before helming 2018’s Green Book<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Like the original Rocky, Green Book became an underdog victor at the Academy Awards. Farrelly’s film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (for Mahershala Ali<\/a>). Forty-two years earlier, Rocky won Best Picture, Best Director (for John G. Avildsen), and Best Film Editing (for Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad).\n<\/p>\n I Play Rocky was written by Peter Gamble, who previously penned the action-comedy Office Uprising. The making-of movie is set for a theatrical release.\n<\/p>\n Ippolito is no stranger to behind-the-scenes Hollywood stories. He portrayed Al Pacino in The Offer, the Paramount+ miniseries chronicling the making of another seminal ’70s classic, The Godfather. The Offer also starred Miles Teller<\/a> as producer Albert S. Ruddy, Matthew Goode<\/a> as Paramount chief Robert Evans, and Dan Fogler as filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Ippolito also played a young version of Adam Sandler’s character in the 2015 sci-fi-comedy Pixels<\/a>. He most recently appeared in the 2022 Netflix romantic drama Purple Hearts, opposite Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine.\n<\/p>\n Anthony Ippolito as Al Pacino in ‘The Offer’; Al Pacino in ‘The Godfather’.<\/p>\n Nicole Wilder\/Paramount+; Courtesy Everett\u00a0<\/p>\n The original Rocky made $225 million on a budget under $1 million and launched the most successful sports movie franchise in Hollywood history. The series, which includes six Rocky movies and three Creed spinoffs, has grossed $1.9 billion at the global box office.\n<\/p>\n The Rocky franchise has a number of upcoming projects in development. Stallone has repeatedly teased<\/a> a prequel TV series centering on younger versions of Rocky and wife Adrian (previously played by Talia Shire). Meanwhile, Amazon MGM announced the development of Delphi<\/a>, a series centered on the pivotal Delphi Boxing Academy utilized by both Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) and his son Adonis (Michael B. Jordan<\/a>). Jordan has also said he intends to pursue a fourth Creed movie<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly<\/a>‘s free newsletter<\/a> to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.\n<\/p>\n