Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Origin Story Officially Gets a Fresh Trailer

A film about Rocky’s beginnings

I Play Rocky explores how Rocky came to be, a story described as nearly as dramatic as the movie itself. A new trailer provides a preview ahead of the film’s theatrical release.

Anthony Ippolito, known for playing Al Pacino in the miniseries The Offer, portrays Stallone. Peter Farrelly directs, and Peter Gamble wrote the film.

The people around Stallone

The film follows Stallone’s relationships with his wife, Sasha, played by AnnaSophia Robb, and his father, Frank Sr., played by Matt Dillon. Jay Duplass portrays Rocky director John G. Avildsen. P.J. Byrne and Toby Kebbell play producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, while Tracy Letts plays Sandy Maddox, a fictional composite of several studio bosses.

The demand to play Rocky

In the trailer, Stallone is a young actor shopping a script around Hollywood. Studios want a well-known actor for Rocky Balboa, the soft-hearted small-time boxer who gets a chance to face world champion Apollo Creed.

Stallone refuses to sell the script unless he can take the lead. He puts his demand plainly: “I play Rocky,” Stallone says.

A difficult production

After a studio agrees to his terms, Stallone still faces a small budget and a demanding shooting schedule. The production also uses a rickety experimental device called the Steadicam.