Amazon’s upcoming Sylvester Stallone biopic I Play Rocky has received its first trailer, which sees Anthony Ippolito (The Offer) delivering a spot-on impression of the action superstar as it retells the journey of how the classic 1976 film put him on the map.
Set to the iconic soundtrack of Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now”, the trailer sees Ippolito’s Stallone in a behind-the-scenes dramatisation of the making of 1976’s Rocky, a boxing drama that would not only go on to spawn an entire franchise with five sequels and three spin-off Creed movies, but also kick-start Stallone’s career as a Hollywood action star.
“An unknown actor with an unshakable belief that he wasn’t just meant to write Rocky — he was meant to be Rocky Balboa,” reads the synopsis of I Play Rocky. “Told ‘no’ at every turn, Sylvester Stallone bets everything on himself, holding the line on playing the lead against seemingly impossible odds. The result is the ultimate underdog story behind the ultimate underdog movie.”
Alongside Ippolito, the film will also star Stephan James as the late Carl Weathers (who played Apollo Creed in the original movie), AnnaSophia Robb as Stallone’s then-wife Sasha Czack, Matt Dillon as Frank Stallone Sr., Jay Duplass as John G. Avildsen, the director of Rocky, alongside P. J. Byrne and Toby Kebbell, who play Rocky’s producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, respectively.
I Play Rocky also marks Ippolito’s second time portraying a real-life acting icon of the 1970s, as he previously starred as Al Pacino in the 2022 Paramount+ limited series The Offer, which centred on the making of the 1972 film The Godfather.
I Play Rocky is set to launch in theatres in November 2026.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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