Actor Anthony Ippolito made a name for himself portraying the legendary Al Pacino in Paramount's streaming series The Offer, and now he's taking on the role of another Hollywood great, as Ippolito has been cast as Sylvester Stallone in Green Book director Peter Farrelly's upcoming film about the making of Rocky (per THR).
The movie, aptly titled I Play Rocky, follows Stallone's struggles in getting his iconic 1976 film off the ground, including fighting to sell his script, and having to convince studio executives that he was also the right actor to play the lead role of Rocky Balboa.
Stallone won out in the end, with Rocky receiving a whopping nine Academy Award nominations, including two for Stallone for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. It won the Oscars for Best Picture, and Best Director for John G. Avildsen, and went on to spawn six sequels and the Creed spin-off series with three films of its own.
At the same time, director Peter Farrelly (who previously directed some of the most well-known comedies of the '90s and '00s alongside his brother Bobby) won his own Best Picture Academy Award for 2018's Green Book, a decision that was met with some backlash for the film's historical inaccuracies in adapting its true story.
THR reports that Ippolito, who does indeed bear a striking resemblance to Stallone, "Pursued" the part "with relentless drive." The premise of I Play Rocky isn't too far off from The Offer, the series in which Ippolito played Al Pacino in the story of the fraught development of 1972's The Godfather, including the film's actual mob ties.
No release date for I Play Rocky has been announced. While we wait, stay up to date on all the news about upcoming drama films.
