I Play Rocky Trailer Has Me Ready To Run Up Those Goddamn Steps Again

Amazon MGM Studios has released the first trailer for I Play Rocky, the upcoming movie about Sylvester Stallone’s nearly impossible fight to write, star in and get the original Rocky made.

Directed by Green Book filmmaker Peter Farrelly, the movie stars Anthony Ippolito as the young, broke and largely unknown Stallone. He’s holding onto a handwritten script that Hollywood wants, but refusing to accept the life-changing money being offered unless he’s allowed to play Rocky Balboa himself.

I'm sure you know how that turned out.

The original Rocky became the highest-grossing movie of 1976, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and turned Stallone into one of the biggest movie stars in the world. It also launched a franchise that has survived for 50 years, six original movies, three Creed films, several generations of fans and one robot that I'd still be stoked to get.

The trailer follows Stallone as he gets rejected, underestimated and repeatedly told that he isn’t right for the character he created. Instead of taking the money and letting a bigger star play Rocky, he bets everything on himself. It’s the story of an underdog making the greatest underdog movie ever made, which is such a perfect setup that it almost feels like Hollywood should’ve gotten around to making this years ago.

Ippolito looks and sounds shockingly close to the young Stallone without immediately falling into cheap impression territory. That’s important because Stallone has one of the most recognizable voices, faces and physical presences in movie history. Push it too far and the entire performance turns into somebody doing Stallone at a bachelor party after six beers.

Ippolito previously played a young Al Pacino in The Offer, the Paramount+ series about the making of The Godfather. Apparently, his career plan is to keep playing legendary Italian-American actors while recreating the production of some of the greatest movies ever made. That’s a strangely specific lane, but he appears to be very good at it.

The cast also includes AnnaSophia Robb as Stallone’s first wife, Sasha Czack, Stephan James as Carl Weathers, Matt Dillon as Stallone’s father, and Jay Duplass as original Rocky director John G. Avildsen. I Play Rocky opens in select theaters on November 6 before expanding later in the month, almost exactly 50 years after the original movie arrived in theaters.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, Rocky isn’t merely a movie I enjoy.

Rocky and the entire film series are my desert-island film series.

I remember watching the first movie while lying on my grandparents’ floor on Thanksgiving evening. I was completely locked in from the opening fight through the final bell. When he lost, it felt like we all won and as soon as it was over, I needed more. Not eventually. Not after taking some time to think about what I’d just watched. Immediately.

I started bringing home Rocky II, Rocky III and Rocky IV from the video store more times than I could possibly count. Every time, I’d assure my brothers that I was going to rent something different. When I returned with another Rocky movie, the fear in their eyes is still laughing maniacally in my memory.

That fear was usually confirmed by the traditional post-Rocky brotherly beatdown, Italian Stallion-style. Brotherly bonding at its best.

When Rocky V came out, I had to wait for it to reach video because I couldn’t drive and was too poor to afford a cab. Once it was available, I absorbed it immediately, and for the briefest of moments, Tommy Morrison became my favorite boxer.

The soundtracks have never left my playlists. Bill Conti’s music can still convince me that walking across a parking lot is part of an emotionally charged training montage. “Gonna Fly Now,” “Going the Distance,” “Hearts on Fire” and about half of Rocky IV have probably done more for gym memberships than most personal trainers. “Go For It” is still one of my workout songs.

Then the Creed movies arrived and somehow managed to be far better than they had any right to be. Instead of treating Rocky like a nostalgic prop, the series allowed him to age, grieve, fail and become something new. Michael B. Jordan created a character who could carry the franchise without replacing Rocky, and Stallone gave one of the best performances of his career in the first Creed.

I bought Stallone’s failed Sly magazine because it published early portions of what was then being called the script for Rocky VI. Those sections eventually became Rocky Balboa, the 2006 movie that brought the character back after 16 years and gave him the ending he deserved.

I’ve also visited the Rocky statue in Philadelphia. I’ve stood at the bottom of those steps. I’ve run up the goddamn steps. I did the pose at the top because you don’t travel all that way just to stand there with your hands in your pockets like you’re ashamed.

So yes, I Play Rocky has my attention.

The most interesting thing about the trailer is that it doesn’t appear to be trying to recreate Rocky. It’s telling the story of why Rocky exists at all. Stallone wasn’t simply trying to sell a screenplay. He was fighting for the belief that he belonged in the movie, even when nearly everyone with money and power told him otherwise.

That stubbornness could’ve destroyed his career before it began. Instead, it created one.

There’s always some danger when Hollywood turns its own history into a movie. The rough edges get sanded down, complicated people become inspirational speeches and every setback starts conveniently building toward a triumphant musical cue. I Play Rocky will need to show more than Stallone being rejected for two hours before somebody finally recognizes his genius.

But the first trailer understands the emotional center of the story. Stallone saw himself in Rocky Balboa because they were both men being told they had no realistic chance. Neither of them needed to win everything. They just needed one opportunity to prove they belonged in the ring.

I Play Rocky arrives in select theaters November 6, with a wider release later in November.

I’ll be there.

I’ve already run the steps. Time to walk into the theater.