'I Play Rocky' Revisits Stallone's Extraordinary Rise: 'Amazing Things Can Happen when You Have Faith'

'I Play Rocky' revisits Stallone's extraordinary rise: 'Amazing things can happen when you have faith'

The story of how Sylvester Stallone went from a struggling, nearly penniless actor to one of Hollywood's biggest stars is a testament to unwavering faith and the life-changing power of having someone believe in you, according to actor P.J. Byrne.

Review: In 'I Play Rocky,' a middleweight crowd-pleaser about the making of a classic

I Play Rocky, Peter Farrelly’s comic and crowd-pleasing tale about the making of Rocky, might seem like a one-two punch of pure nostalgia. It’s been almost exactly 50 years since Sylvester Stallone’s breakthrough boxing classic first arrived in theaters. You need hardly more than a few Philadelphia steps or a holler of “Adrian” to summon its still-ubiquitous cultural presence.

Review: 'I Play Rocky' brings us into a wannabe actor's fight for the role of his life. You know his name

As a young Sylvester Stallone trying to sell his original script with a big role for himself, Anthony Ippolito carries this sweetly sentimental making-of drama.

I PLAY ROCKY Review: Making Of Biopic Leans Heavily into Underdog Nostalgia

For Sylvester Stallone (Anthony Ippolito), a little-known, struggling actor-turned-screenwriter, the phrase “I play Rocky” in Peter Farrelly’s (Ricky Stanicky, The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Green Book) biopic about the making of 1976’s Best Picture winner, Rocky, becomes a life-altering mantra, an expression of supreme self-belief.   Time and again, Hollywood producers Irwin Winkler (P.J. Byrne) and Robert Chartoff (Toby Kebbell) return to the act…

Review: ‘I Play Rocky’

Eight years ago, Peter Farrelly, having recently split from the directing duo with his brother Bobby, brought civil rights comedy Green Book to TIFF, where it won the People’s Choice Award on its way to Best Picture at the Oscars. Things haven’t gone so well for Farrelly since. His next three films, I will politely say, […]