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‘I Play Rocky’ Review: Anthony Ippolito Channels Sylvester Stallone in Peter Farrelly’s Cleverly Crafted Crowd-Pleaser About the Making of ‘Rocky’
Confirmed
In Short: Farrelly has praised the film, stating that without Stallone's blessing, it wouldn't have been made. The movie, with Peter Gamble's screenplay, is a well-crafted exploration of the filmmaking process, from the initial script to the final scenes of Rocky's creation.
Starting with Ippolito on screen as 'Mike Stallone,' the film follows the journey of an aspiring actor auditioning for a role. Gamble's script provides a linear narrative of how the impossible dream of making it in Hollywood came true, with tender details of the filmmaking process and a riotous series of scenes.
The emotional climax comes when Burgess Meredith, played by Robert Morgan, agrees to train Stallone, a moment that resonates with the spirit of Rocky's triumph. The film, marking the 50th anniversary of Rocky, is a triumph in its own right, capturing the fresh spirit that birthed the original.
Anthony Ippolito, who stars as a young Sylvester Stallone, revealed that he spoke with Stallone about his early childhood and the challenges he faced, including paralysis of the lower left side of his face. This preparation helped Ippolito deliver a performance that Farrelly believes Stallone himself would appreciate.
Background
Peter John Farrelly is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and novelist. Along with his brother Bobby, the Farrelly brothers are mostly famous for directing and producing quirky comedy and romantic comedy films such as Dumb and Dumber; Shallow Hal; Me, Myself and Irene; There's Something About Mary; and the 2007 remake of The Heartbreak Kid.
What's confirmed
- Starting with Ippolito on screen as 'Mike Stallone,' the film follows the journey of an aspiring actor auditioning for a role. Gamble's script provides a linear narrative of how the impossible dream of making it in Hollywood came true, with tender details of the filmmaking process and a riotous series of scenes.
- The emotional climax comes when Burgess Meredith, played by Robert Morgan, agrees to train Stallone, a moment that resonates with the spirit of Rocky's triumph. The film, marking the 50th anniversary of Rocky, is a triumph in its own right, capturing the fresh spirit that birthed the original.
- Anthony Ippolito, who stars as a young Sylvester Stallone, revealed that he spoke with Stallone about his early childhood and the challenges he faced, including paralysis of the lower left side of his face. This preparation helped Ippolito deliver a performance that Farrelly believes Stallone himself would appreciate.
What's still developing
- Farrelly has said he would not have made the film without Stallone’s blessing, which he got, and he has, with Peter Gamble’s beautifully structured and crafted screenplay, made one of the best movies ever made about Hollywood moviemaking and the sheer mechanics of getting anything made.
- On his way out the door he tucks a script he wrote called Paradise Alley (eventually a movie Stallone got made) under a pile that says “weekend reading”.
- Finally after knocking the budget down to just $1 million with clauses designed to get Stallone fired so they can get Ryan O’Neal or an actor on that level when it inevitably behind schedule, the saga of the actual filming begins and it has all been recreated with tender loving care, from the cinematography to production design, costume, music, editing, and one riotous scene after another that are not just about the making of this one film against all odds, it is really about the making of just about every film, a love letter to movies that in its own way is on par with Truffaut’s Day For Night.
- But the emotional knockout is delivered in the filming of a scene with Burgess Meredith (played by Robert Morgan) as Mickey who tells him he will agree to train him, after first rejecting him.
- It is no spoiler to say I am going to reveal the final moments of Peter Farrelly ‘s fantastic crowd pleasing biopic chronicling the making of the 1976 classic, Rocky, that not only made Sylvester Stallone a major star, but also became one of the greatest behind the scenes stories in Hollywood history.
- In a year that marks the 50th anniversary of Rocky, a film that spawned five sequels and three more films in the Creed spinoff series with Michael B.
- Jordan, I Play Rocky brings us full circle right back to the beginning and manages to slyly recapture the fresh spirit that birthed it.
- “ I got to speak to Stallone prior to making the movie. It was a lot to take in because I’d spent over a year, by that point, studying him,” Ippolito said at THR ‘s Studio at 1 Hotel during TIFF, presented by sponsor Canada Goose.