Sylvester Stallone approves of I Play Rocky

Sylvester Stallone has thrown his support behind new movie I Play Rocky.

The new film tells the story of Stallone's efforts to bring his 1976 boxing movie Rocky to the big screen in the 1970s with Anthony Ippolito playing him and the movie is already receiving rave reviews following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada over the weekend (12.09.26).

During a question-and-answer session after the screening, director Peter Farrelly revealed Stallone has seen the finished film and he approves, telling the audience: "Yeah, Sly liked it."

Ippolito also took part in the session and he admitted he feels grateful to Farrelly and the producers for casting him as Stallone and taking a huge chance on an unknown actor.

He said: "[I'm] grateful [they] were willing to take a chance on me. The movie shows it’s not easy to be an actor sometimes and this is absolutely surreal."

The session also featured Stephan James - who plays actor Carl Weathers who starred in Rocky as the boxer's nemesis Apollo Creed - and James admitted he felt proud to play Carl, who died in 2024.

James said: "I’m so honored to be able to carry the legacy of someone like Carl. Not only was he such an important figure to the Rocky franchise but just as a Black leading action hero pioneer.

"All of those things mean to so much to me stepping into his shoes and hopefully I do him just a little bit of justice."

I Play Rocky is already being tipped as an Oscar contender ahead of the 2027 Academy Awards. If the film lands nominations, it would follow in the footsteps of Rocky, which landed 10 nods and won three Oscars including the coveted Best Picture prize in 1977.

Ippolito also revealed he was given the chance to speak to Stallone himself before the movie started shooting. He told The Hollywood Reporter: " I got to speak to Stallone prior to making the movie. It was a lot to take in because I’d spent over a year, by that point, studying him.

"It was very overwhelming and daunting. There’s a lot going on in my head, but I was really just trying to listen as much as possible and hear his perspective.

"Obviously, Rocky’s an underdog story and he’s an underdog in the movie, but Stallone in a lot of ways was an underdog in his actual life."