Young Sylvester Stallone Movie About Making Rocky to Be Helmed by Peter Farrelly

Green Book director Peter Farrelly will helm I Play Rocky, which tells the story of a young Sylvester Stallone and his efforts to make the first Rocky movie back in 1976. Stallone is now one of the most recognizable stars in Hollywood, with Rocky being his breakout role and leading to the actor creating one of the most iconic franchises of all time, as well as becoming a major action movie superstar.

You can check out a synopsis for I Play Rocky below, courtesy of Variety.

“I Play Rocky, the upcoming film, will follow Stallone long before his action hero days. Here, he’s a struggling actor whose partially paralyzed face and a speech impediment hasn’t left him in demand by Hollywood. But betting on his talent, Stallone writes a hot script that a big movie studio wants to buy. However, he refuses to sell it unless he gets to play the lead. Turning down an offer of life-changing money, he instead works for a pittance in order to get the movie made with himself as the title character. The result is the biggest box office hit of 1976, as well as an Academy Award juggernaut that went on to win best picture.”

Peter Farrelly’s 2018 comedy drama Green Book won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, though these wins were met with some controversy at the time. Farrelly is also known as one half of the Farrelly brothers and their movies Dumb and Dumber, Me, Myself and Irene, and There’s Something About Mary, and will produce I Play Rocky as well as direct. The script comes courtesy of Peter Gamble (Trenches, Office Uprising).

Casting for a Young Sylvester Stallone Is Now Underway

Toby Emmerich and Christian Baha are on board to produce, with the former saying of the young Stallone project…

“I’ve been a fan of Peter Farrelly as both a filmmaker and a person since getting to work with him on the music for ‘Dumb and Dumber.’ But it was ‘Green Book’ that made me think of Pete for this inspiring screenplay. Christian Baha and I feel blessed to have Pete at the helm for this movie. And like the unknown Stallone starring in ‘Rocky,’ Pete will be conducting a worldwide search to discover another actor who just needs one shot — in ‘I Play Rocky’ — to show the world what he can do.”

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Baha, meanwhile, heaped praise on Gamble’s script and teased something “as unique as Sylvester Stallone himself.”

“When I first read Peter Gamble’s energetic and poignant script, I knew it captured something very special. The story of ‘I Play Rocky’ is as unique as Sylvester Stallone himself, a seeming Everyman with an undeniable gift who needs to share it with the world and refuses to take “no” for an answer. And like the hero of our film, Baha Productions needed grit and determination as we fought for years to make this project into a reality. We are so fortunate to have teamed up with Toby Emmerich and Peter Farrelly, two legendary talents who not only share but enhance our vision of the film.”

Released in 1976, Rocky follows small-time boxer Rocky Balboa, who gets a chance to fight heavyweight champion Apollo Creed. Rocky saw huge success at the time, becoming the highest-grossing movie of the year and winning several Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for John G. Avildsen.