First Official Image of Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone in ‘I Play Rocky’

UPDATE: Amazon/MGM has released an official still for “I Play Rocky,” which can be seen below.

EARLIER: Peter Farrelly (“Green Book”) has started production on his film inspired by the story of how Sylvester Stallone came to make his 1976 boxing classic “Rocky.” It’s titled “I Play Rocky.”

And what better way to cast the role of Stallone than to just sign up his doppelgänger? No, really—this guy looks like his duplicate. His name is Anthony Ippolito; he played Al Pacino in Paramount’s limited series “The Offer.”

Is this stunt casting? You be the judge. I’m not familiar enough with Ippolito’s work to weigh in, but these first images from the set of “I Play Rocky” emphasize how much of a dead ringer he is. They can be seen below this article.

Stallone did not give his blessing for this project, but he’s neither slammed its existence. He’ll wait for the final product before judging. The plot is said to follow “a struggling actor with a partially paralyzed face and a speech impediment who writes a script that a big movie studio wants to buy, but he refuses to sell it unless he gets to play the lead.”

The logline continues: “Turning down an offer of life-changing money, he instead works for pennies to get the movie made with himself in the starring role.” The movie becomes the biggest box-office hit of 1976, garnering 10 Academy Award nominations and winning Best Picture.

Ippolito joins the previously announced which includes Anna Sophia Robb as Sasha Czack, Matt Dillon as Frank Stallone Sr, Stephan James as Carl Weathers, PJ Byrne as producer Irwin Winkkler, and Jay Duplass as “Rocky” director John Avildsen.

It should be noted that Stallone’s name is not mentioned in the official logline, so they might not even have the rights to use it in the film. Peter Gamble (“Office Uprising”) is writing the script.

Farrelly recently released the comedy “Ricky Stanicky,” which was actually a decent laugh. Before that, he directed the mixed-reviewed “The Greatest Beer Run Ever,” and, of course, he won two Oscars for the 2018 Best Picture winner “Green Book.”