Fifty years after a broke, unknown actor bet everything on himself, the story behind Rocky came home. On Monday night, Philadelphia rolled out the red carpet for I Play Rocky, Amazon MGM Studios' new film about the making of the 1976 classic — and the city that made Rocky Balboa a folk hero treated the premiere like a homecoming. Twin Towerz Entertainment breaks down the hometown screening, Anthony Ippolito's transformation into Sylvester Stallone, and everything you need to know after the film opened in select theaters Friday, November 6, and ahead of its wide release everywhere November 20.
Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb and director Peter Farrelly bring I Play Rocky home to Philadelphia. (Amazon MGM Studios)
A Hometown Premiere for the Ultimate Underdog Story
The special Philadelphia community screening, held Monday, November 2 at the Philadelphia Film Society, was billed by Amazon MGM as "a hometown celebration for an iconic hometown character" — and the guest list matched the billing. Director Peter Farrelly walked the carpet with his stars, Anthony Ippolito, who plays the young Sylvester Stallone, and AnnaSophia Robb, who plays Sasha Czack, Stallone's first wife. The night also drew Kali Reis and a piece of boxing royalty in his own right: legendary ring announcer Michael Buffer, whose voice has opened more big fights than anyone alive.
Farrelly, the Academy Award-winning director of Green Book, told the Philadelphia crowd that Stallone's real-life journey is the mirror image of the movie he fought to make. "The story of making this movie is as strong as the Rocky story. It is the same story — except Stallone's a real person," Farrelly said, noting the extreme pressure Stallone faced after refusing to sell his script unless he could star in it. Studios dangled bigger names for the lead — Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood were all in the conversation — and, in Farrelly's telling, were ready to replace Stallone the moment production slipped a single day behind schedule.
Farrelly introduces the film in front of the Philadelphia screening artwork. (Amazon MGM Studios)
Anthony Ippolito's Transformation Into Sylvester Stallone
Casting the most imitated man in movie history is a trap — unless the actor disappears. Early audiences suggest Ippolito does exactly that. After a recent test screening, viewers reportedly asked how often Farrelly had cut in footage from the original 1976 Rocky, because they could not tell where Stallone ended and Ippolito began. The answer: none of it is original footage. It is all new — and all Ippolito.
The transformation was physical as well as vocal. Ippolito, who broke out playing a young Al Pacino in The Offer, added roughly 40 pounds for the role and trained at Brooklyn's Gleason's Gym — the storied boxing gym where Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson trained, and where Robert De Niro prepared for Raging Bull. "There's a physical element in trying to prepare in that way," Ippolito said in Philadelphia. "He had a very specific physique." The production even returned to sacred ground: the run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps — the most famous run in cinema — was re-created on the same steps, with Ippolito in the grey sweats, describing the experience as surreal.
Ippolito re-creates the most famous run in movie history. (Amazon MGM Studios)
The Rocky Legacy: Why This Story Still Lands
Half a century on, Rocky is not just a movie; it is Philadelphia's civic myth. Made for around a million dollars, the 1976 original became the year's biggest film, won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and turned its unknown star into a global phenomenon. The statue at the Art Museum steps, the tours, the marathons up those 72 steps — no fictional character owns a real city the way Rocky Balboa owns Philadelphia.
That is what makes I Play Rocky such a natural fit for this fall: it is not a sequel or a remake, but the origin story of the origin story. Stallone wrote the script in a matter of days, refused offer after offer that would have handed the role to an established star, and held his ground until the studio relented. The underdog on screen and the underdog behind the camera were the same man — and this film argues you cannot separate the two.
Boxing stories are having a genuine moment on screen right now. If the fight game is your lane this season, do not miss our coverage of Mike Tyson Docuseries Now Streaming on Netflix — another complicated ring legend getting the long-form treatment.
What We Know About the Film
I Play Rocky is directed by Peter Farrelly from a screenplay by Peter Gamble, and produced by Toby Emmerich, Christian Baha, Farrelly, Paul Currie and Michele Weiss. It follows Stallone from struggling actor to the brink of production — a man with a script about a small-time Philadelphia club fighter and one non-negotiable condition that nearly sank the whole thing: he plays Rocky.
The ensemble around Ippolito is stacked with precision casting. AnnaSophia Robb plays Sasha Czack; Stephan James plays Carl Weathers, the man who would become Apollo Creed; Kiki Seto plays Talia Shire; P.J. Byrne plays producer Irwin Winkler; and Matt Dillon plays Frank Stallone Sr., with Toby Kebbell, Jay Duplass and Tracy Letts rounding out the cast. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it finished as first runner-up for the People's Choice Award, and it is rated PG-13.
I Play Rocky Release Dates: Select Theaters Nov. 6, Everywhere Nov. 20
Here is the rollout. Fans in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia got early access screenings on November 1 and November 4. The film then opened in select theaters Friday, November 6, before expanding to theaters everywhere on Friday, November 20 — landing in the middle of Philadelphia's officially declared Rocky Season, the city's 50th-anniversary celebration of the original film. Tickets are on sale now through the official ticketing link.
So here is the question, Rocky fans: did you catch I Play Rocky in select theaters, or are you waiting for the wide release on November 20? And be honest — could anyone other than Stallone have played Rocky? Tell us in the comments.
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