“I Play Rocky” is hitting theaters, telling the true story of Sylvester Stallone when he was an unknown actor who believed he was meant to play the lead role in “Rocky,” the iconic film he wrote.
When he faced constant rejection, he refused to give up despite the odds against him.
“I Play Rocky” is directed by Academy Award winner Peter Farrelly and written by Peter Gamble. The film has a bench of great actors including Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, Kiki Seto and Stephan James.
Sylvester Stallone talked about his faith and spiritual reawakening on a past episode of The 700 Club.
“There was a time where I was raised strict Catholic, and then when I got to Hollywood, you get the key to the candy store. And temptation abounds, and I started to believe my publicity. I admit it. I just lost my way,” Stallone said.
“But every time I came back to Rocky, I was given a new shot in the arm, a new reawakening. And then I would abuse it again. Finally, it led to like 12 years where I was just spiraling down and finally, I said I have to stop. I have to get back to basics. And I really decided to take things out of my own hands and put it in God’s hands because I always felt I was chosen to do something. I was never a writer. I was never an exemplary student. All of a sudden one day I started writing Rocky. I wrote it in 3 days, and it wins the Oscar. And I cannot assume that I did this all on my own. I really do not believe that,” he said.
Anthony Ippolito shared the emotional journey to becoming Sylvester Stallone and “Rocky” in the film.
“It was very daunting at the beginning, that’s for sure. But I knew that the physical part was going to be very demanding and I had a lot of work to do because Stallone had a very recognizable silhouette, I guess. And Steve Reeves was a big influence of his who played Hercules. And so, it’s kind of unavoidable. And he’s playing Rocky in the film, who’s a heavyweight boxer. So, there’s that,” Ippolito said. “Emotionally, he endured so much. I can’t believe it to this day. And so being able to speak to him and to go through that in the story was really, really powerful and a learning experience in a lot of ways too.”
AnnaSophia Robb plays Sasha, a photographer who was Stallone’s first wife in the film. She shared what it was like taking on this role.
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Robb said, “I am so honored to play Sasha, and you’re right, it will be an intro for many people, but I feel like she’s also a representative of: behind every person who has success, there is a Sasha. There’s somebody who’s been championing them since before anybody knew their name. And she was Sly’s first wife. They worked at a movie theater together. She went to art school. She was a photographer. She was the on-set photographer on ‘I Play Rocky.’ She wrote up all of his… She typed every single one of his scripts. She was his first read. She was the first Rocky fan. And I think without Sasha, there would be no Rocky, really.”
Stephan James stars as Carl Weathers/Apollo Creed. He revealed to CBN News’ Studio 5 how he approached portraying this role.
James said, “All the movies, and I know what Apollo Creed was like, but I was more interested in Carl Weathers, the actor, but the human being. What was he actually like? Where was his brain? What was his psychology at this moment in time? I really tried to lean into that. What element of Carl could I give people that they don’t already know that they haven’t already seen? So, there’s this level of insecurity. There’s the cracks in his armor if you will. The fact that we can sort of laugh at him and he can laugh at himself, I think, is really important. My main job was trying to ground him for the audience.”
Talia Shire is a prominent actor in the Rocky franchise, playing the role of Adrian. Kiki Seto took on playing the role of Talia/Adrian in “I Play Rocky.” She shared her process in taking on this role.
“Well, first she (Talia) was apologizing for not calling me sooner, which I thought was so funny because I was like, ‘You’re Talia Shire. You don’t owe me anything.’ And she was just so sweet. She was telling me about her life at the time. So she was a new mother and how that affected how she went into filming Rocky. And then also she just told me how she approached Adrian and how much love Adrian has in her eyes when she looks at Rocky. I felt like I could literally see Talia Shire through the phone as Adrian looking at Rocky, which was really special. So that definitely all informed my performance. Yeah.”
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Farrelly told CBN News’ Studio 5 how the story mirrors Stallone’s life and why it was the best script he has ever read.
“It was by far the best one. It was perfect. And there was so much information in it. Peter Gamble wrote it, by the way. And there was so much information there that I didn’t know. I thought I knew this story, the backstory. And I knew a couple things. I knew he sold his dog, this, and that, but every three pages is something new that you’re finding out that I didn’t know about. And also, what I recognized was his story; Stallone’s story mirrors the Rocky story. It’s almost identical, except Rocky’s fictional and he’s real. And I couldn’t believe how moved I was by it.”
“I Play Rocky” is now playing in select theaters today, November 6. It premieres nationwide on November 20. Christian audiences might want to know that the film does contain some foul language. You can learn more about Movieguide’s rating for the film here.
Published by agreement with CBN News.
James Wilkins is a multimedia producer for CBN’s Studio 5.
