‘I Play Rocky’ Trailer: Peter Farrelly Recreates Sylvester Stallone’s Incredible ‘Rocky’ Origin Story

Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky” will be released in November 2026. That’s a major fall release slot, indicating that Amazon/MGM has positioned the film for awards contention—and for good reason. The studio has seen the film test extremely well over the last few months and hopes the buzz will continue to build following its likely world premiere at TIFF in September.

A trailer has now been released for “I Play Rocky,” and it looks like a total crowd-pleaser. Critics will be sharpening their knives, but fall festival audiences might embrace this film, which as I said, has been testing through the roof.

Farrelly (“Green Book”) directs the film, which is inspired by the story of how Sylvester Stallone came to make his 1976 boxing classic “Rocky.” And what better way to cast Stallone than by signing his doppelgänger? No, really—this guy looks like his duplicate. His name is Anthony Ippolito, who previously 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 just how much of a dead ringer he is. They can be seen below this article.

Stallone did not give his blessing to the project, but he hasn’t criticized its existence either. He has said he’ll wait to see the finished film before passing judgment. The plot is said to follow his early life as “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.”

Ippolito is part of a cast that includes AnnaSophia Robb as Sasha Czack, Matt Dillon as Frank Stallone Sr., Stephan James as Carl Weathers, PJ Byrne as producer Irwin Winkler, and Jay Duplass as “Rocky” director John G. Avildsen.

Farrelly recently released two Prime Video comedies: “Ricky Stanicky,” which was actually a decent laugh, and this year’s “Balls Up,” which was not. 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.”

Before this solo stretch, he co-directed, with his brother, Bobby, a handful of comedy classics including “Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary” and “Kingpin.”