The Sly Stallone Biopic ‘I Play Rocky’ Trailer Is Here—and It Looks Like a Knockout

There are some tried and true tropes that Hollywood loves: an underdog story, a heartwarming biopic, movies about Hollywood. It feels criminal, then, that it took so long for the bigwigs to catch up to the fact that Rocky—the quintessential sports film about the little guy who beat the odds—has its own underdog tale ripe for bringing to the screen.Enter I Play Rocky, upcoming the biographical drama from Peter Farrelly (of Green Book, Dumb and Dumber, and There’s Something About Mary fame) that tells the true story behind the making of one of the greatest boxing movies of all time. Relative newcomer Anthony Ippolito plays a young Sylvester Stallone, and looks uncanny in the film’s first trailer. He’s nailed it on the voice too: “Acting’s what I live and breathe for,” he says in those instantly recognizable husky tones.The making of Rocky was just as intense as the film itself. At the time, Stallone was a struggling actor exhausting himself on the audition circuit with little to show for it—so he decided to create his own leading role. Stallone wrote the screenplay for Rocky in three days, and though producers were willing to cough up six figures for the rights, they were eyeing bigger names like Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds to play the titular wannabe-boxer. But Stallone was adamant that he would be the film’s star, and when faced with such an immovable object as the Italian Stallion himself, the producers eventually accepted his terms. (We’d also like to see the part where Henry Winkler sold the rights to ABC and had to buy them back when the network wanted to make Rocky into a TV movie, but no word yet on whether that piece of lore made it into the film.)The big dogs failing to see a star’s potential? It’s a Hollywood tale as old as time. We know what happened from here: Rocky was a resounding success, becoming the highest grossing film of 1976.The movie went on to be the toast of awards season and scored Best Picture at the Oscars. Could its biopic successor have the same fate? We can’t judge too heavily from a two-minute trailer, but I Play Rocky looks like perfectly serviceable Oscar fare: handsomely shot, with a few tasteful nods to the original film including a glimpse of those famous Rocky steps. Depending on how the Best Actor race shakes up, maybe Ippolito could be in the running, but he’s got Michael’s Jaafar Jackson to spar with in terms of transformative biopic performances. Plus, in the year of The Odyssey, Dune: Part Three, and Project Hail Mary, there’s some steep competition for I Play Rocky. But the last time we underestimated Farrelly, Green Book went on to win the Academy’s top prize. If there’s a lesson in that, it’s to never discount the rousing effect of a simple crowd-pleaser.Rounding out the ensemble cast are Anna Sophia Robb as Stallone’s first wife Sasha Czack, Tracy Letts, and Matt Dillon—a reliable bunch that gives I Play Rocky that prestige boost. And with Amazon teeing up a release this November, it looks like the film will be entering the ring come awards season. Let’s hope this one is a knockout.This article originally appeared in British GQ.