How Anthony Ippolito talked his way into playing Sylvester Stallone in 'I Play Rocky'

Anthony Ippolito saw the opportunity of a lifetime when he learned that Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly was developing a film about Sylvester Stallone’s determination to write and star in the original “Rocky.” There was just one problem: Nobody had asked him to audition for “I Play Rocky.”

“So, I kind of just took it upon myself to make some stuff on my own and kind of send it to them unsolicited,” the 27-year-old actor said in a recent interview with The Associated Press ahead of the movie's limited release Friday .

It was a move that could be seen as taking a page from the book of Stallone's own improbable rise to stardom but, for Ippolito, “it didn’t really necessarily feel that way at the time, to be honest. I was just hoping somebody would see it.”

Farrelly did — and was convinced from the start.

“He sent his tape, you know, cold, and we’re like, that’s the guy,” the director recalled. “We were going to do a worldwide search, we never did it.”

Farrelly was particularly impressed by Ippolito’s ability to distinguish the man from his famous screen persona.

“This guy came fully formed — he was exactly what I was looking for because he didn’t do a caricature of Stallone or Rocky and he knew the difference,” Farrelly said.

Ippolito has already had some experience stepping into the shoes of a Hollywood icon. He previously portrayed a young Al Pacino in “The Offer,” the miniseries chronicling the making of the 1972 classic “The Godfather.” Farrelly had been a big fan of “The Offer,” and his favorite performance was the portrayal of Pacino. What he didn’t realize was that Ippolito was the actor behind it.

“That’s when I realized, ‘Oh, this guy’s good.’ I mean, I knew he was good for what we had, but I didn’t realize how this guy can transform into whatever he wants,” Farrelly said.

Both roles presented a similar challenge: portraying legendary actors at pivotal moments in their careers, before fame and success defined their public identities. He needed “to strip away the celebrity,” as he put it, looking beyond the familiar voices and mannerisms to find the people underneath. To play Stallone, Ippolito explored the hardships that shaped — and fueled — the older actor, including a difficult childhood, limited parental support and a profound sense of isolation. Ippolito described the process as partly voyeuristic with a dash of speculation.

“You’re trying to imagine moments that don’t exist in cinema at this point and kind of in between,” he said.

Equally compelling to Ippolito was Stallone’s determination. Here was a struggling actor who reportedly turned down offers in the $300,000 range for his “Rocky” screenplay rather than surrender the starring role. Fifty years later, Ippolito sees that gamble as the heart of Stallone’s story: a man willing to risk everything on a dream that Hollywood was ready to buy, but not let him live.

“It’s so incredible what he was able to do ... and the conviction that he had and his commitment to seeing his idea through all the way to the end,” Ippolito said.

For AnnaSophia Robb, who plays Stallone's first wife Sasha, Ippolito’s transformation seemed almost effortless.

“He was so subtle about the whole thing. I met him, and he’s not method or anything, but he had dedicated, you know, like a year and a half of just getting into this role,” Robb said. “So when we stepped on set, it just felt natural. It felt right.”

As buzz surrounding the film grows, Ippolito is getting his first taste of the spotlight that transformed Stallone’s life. “It’s been very, very gratifying and amazing to see the film land with certain people,” he said.

One of those people was Stallone himself, who was uninvolved in the movie other than a conversation with Farrelly. But he has seen it, as he told the AP in a September interview.

“It’s fantastic. And the kid did a great job,” he said. “This is so odd. They usually do this when you’re dead and gone.”

AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed reporting.