Anthony Ippolito (“The Offer,” “Purple Hearts”) has scored the lead role in “I Play Rocky,” the upcoming film about the making of Sylvester Stallone’s seminal 1976 boxing film “Rocky” at Amazon MGM Studios.
The film follows a struggling actor with a partially paralysed face and a speech impediment who writes a script that a big movie studio wants to buy, but he refuses to sell it unless he gets to play the lead.
Turning down an offer of life-changing money, he instead works for pennies to get the movie made with himself in the starring role.
“Rocky” of course went on to become the biggest box office hit of 1976, landing ten Oscar nominations and winning Best Picture before spawning a successful franchise.
Ippolito is said to have made an unsolicited audition tape on his own and sent it directly to the producers, a bold move that appears to have paid off.
Peter Farrelly (“Green Book”) is directing the film while Peter Gamble (“Office Uprising”) penned the script. Farrelly, Toby Emmerich and Christian Baha are producing.
Source: THR
