New Trailer Released for 'I Play Rocky,' the Film About How 'Rocky' Got Made

You've probably seen Rocky, the rags-to-riches boxing epic that made Sylvester Stallone a household name and spawned a whole card of sequels. But the story of how Rocky got made was almost as dramatic and unbelievable as the movie itself. You'll be able to see that for yourself when I Play Rocky opens in select theaters on November 6, then debuts nationwide on November 20. Now, we have a fresh look at the film, thanks to a new trailer.

Anthony Ippolito, who previously played Al Pacino in The Offer, a miniseries about the making of The Godfather, stars as Sylvester Stallone in the film. Directed by Peter Farrelly (Green Book) and written by Peter Gamble (Office Uprising), the film looks at Stallone's relationships with his wife, Sasha (AnnaSophia Robb), and his father, Frank Sr. (Matt Dillon). It also chronicles the troubled production of Rocky, with Jay Duplass as director John G. Avildsen, P.J. Byrne and Toby Kebbell as producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, and Tracy Letts as Sandy Maddox, a fictional composite of several studio bosses.

In the trailer, Stallone is a young actor with a few notable credits to his name and a hot script he's shopping all over Hollywood. The problem is that the studios want a name actor for the lead role of Rocky Balboa, a soft-hearted small-time boxer who gets a shot at world champion Apollo Creed. Stallone, however, won't sell unless they agree to his main demand: "I play Rocky." Once he finds a studio that will accede to his demands, he still has to contend with a tiny budget, a punishing shooting schedule, and a rickety experimental device called the Steadicam that will either produce one of the most memorable sequences in movie history or totally ruin it.

What Are the Critics Saying About 'I Play Rocky'?

I Play Rocky was greeted with rapturous applause when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. It currently holds an 84% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Collider's Terese Lacson gave the film a rave review. She singled out Ippolito's transformative, star-making performance as Stallone for praise, saying that "it is sometimes difficult to remember that we aren't actually watching a younger version of the actor playing himself."