Toronto Awards Analysis: ‘I Play Rocky’ Channels Namesake, Could Follow in Its Oscar Footsteps

Exactly a half-century ago, in the year of the American bicentennial, a low-profile film — the story of a small-time boxer who, against all odds, went the distance against the champ — became a gigantic hit and ended up vanquishing the likes of All the President’s Men, Network and Taxi Driver to win the best picture Oscar. That film was John G. Avildsen’s Rocky, which was written by and starred Sylvester Stallone.

Eight years ago, another film with a low-profile premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it polarized critics but played through the roof with festivalgoers and ended up winning the TIFF audience award en route to several Oscar nominations, including one for best picture, which it ultimately won. That film was Peter Farrelly’s Green Book.

On Saturday night, Farrelly returned to TIFF for the world premiere of I Play Rocky, a film about the inspiration for and making of Rocky. Like Green Book, it polarized critics, but delighted festivalgoers — indeed, it generated numerous instances of mid-film applause, as well as a lengthy standing ovation at the end — and it will probably follow in the footsteps of Rocky and Green Book to a best picture Oscar nom, if not a win.

If nothing else, I Play Rocky will catapult its little-known star, Anthony Ippolito, who plays Stallone, into the thick of a crowded best actor Oscar race. The 27-year-old eerily channels Sly’s unconventional but iconic appearance and manner of speaking, and, as was the case with Stallone 50 years ago, the story of his path to his career-changing part will have many rooting for him as much as the character he plays.

The biggest hazard for I Play Rocky, which Amazon/MGM is set to begin rolling out in the U.S. on Nov. 6, is Stallone himself.

In THR’s TIFF lounge, Ippolito said he had spoken with Stallone before playing him and Farrelly said he had shown Stallone the finished film and Stallone was pleased with it. And during remarks from the TIFF stage just before the film unspooled, Farrelly gave a shout out to Stallone.

But Stallone was not directly involved with — nor does it seems he will financially benefit from — I Play Rocky. And if the recent past is any indication, he believes he deserves a cut of anything Rocky-related: indeed, in 2022, he publicly blasted Irwin Winkler, one of the two producers of the original Rocky, who helped to give him his big break, for not giving him an equity stake in the franchise.

Winkler and the other producer, Robert Chartoff, who died in 2015, are both portrayed in the film (by P.J. Byrne and Toby Kebbell, respectively) rather sympathetically. The real Winkler, now 95, also makes a cameo in it. And Chartoff’s widow was at the premiere. In other words, it seems that the Winklers and Chartoffs are happy with the film.

If Stallone, who turned 80 in July, were to publicly lash out against I Play Rocky, that could really harm its Oscar prospects. But if he were to publicly champion it, that could really help them. And to be honest, he has a lot of reason to be happy about the film: written by Peter Gamble, it is essentially a celebration of his smarts, tenacity and talent — plus, it basically prints the legend about the origin of Rocky that Stallone has been repeating for the past half-century, not all of which stands up to close scrutiny.

In addition to Gamble’s script and Ippolito’s star turn, other strong work in the film is done by supporting performers AnnaSophia Robb (as Stallone’s first wife), Tracy Letters (as the head of United Artists) and Jay Duplass (as Avildsen); cinematographer Sean Porter (who also shot Green Book); production designer Anthony Gasparro; makeup artist Jackie Risotto; and hairstylist Nakoya Yancey.