We would be the first to admit that the behind the scenes stories about the making of a film are often more engaging than the film itself and to that end we’ve written a large number of magazine features about the behind the scenes shenanigans. I Play Rocky is one such film. Written by Peter Gamble this is the story of how Stallone a struggling actor with bit parts in ‘The Lords of Flatbush’ and the Roger Corman exploitation flick ‘Death Race 2000’ and now so low on cash that he was homeless made a softcore sex film but battled to star in the film that he had written.
With a baby on the way with his first wife Sasha (AnnaSophia Robb) and trapped in a dead end job as a hotel’s car valet it’s an evening in a bar watching Muhammed Ali go the full fifteen rounds with Chuck Wepner who took an absolute battering getting licked in the ring but still would not go down that makes it seem an ideal synopsis suitable for a specialist interest film found under the counter. But Webner’s underdog status saw audiences cheer him on and it’s that which Stallone latches onto banging out a script in just three days that channelled much of his own struggle as an aspiring actor.
Why Stallone said I Play Rocky….
With two producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff (a terrific double act by PJ Byrnem and Toby Kebbell respectively) who love the script and want to produce it but find the one obstacle to getting the funding us Stallone’s mantra, ‘I play Rocky’ and its one who studio boss Sandy Maddox (an enjoyably irascible Tracy Letts ) is certainly not going to entertain offering a paltry $25k to pay off the actor which rises to $400K and still Stallone won’t back down. It’s what makes up the second act of the film before the inevitable happens and shooting on the film begins on 9th January 1976 with Stallone in what would become his signature role.
The making of any film throws up unforeseen problems and its certainly no different here with producers fending off a Teamster union boss, the studio who want to shut down production and replace Stallone with a big name actor, Stallone sustaining production threatening injuries (those meat carcasses he punches are frozen solid) and money running out for pivotal scenes. It’s a wonder the film was ever completed.
Star turns…
Directed by Peter Farrelly who has moved away from the raunchy comedies that he and his brother had such huge success. He has cast well, best of all with an astonishingly good Anthony Ippolito who nails the drawl, the mannerisms and the look so perfectly that it’s hard not to see this as Stallone himself in the role in a performance that would seem assured for a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Stephen James as the late Carl Weathers as the street wise jive talking actor is good as is Jay Deplass as the late and often irritable director John G Avildsen and even the small roles are well served notably Matt Dillon as Stallone’s father and a scene stealing Erik Palladino as an egotistical boxing choreographer.
As a rags to riches story this is as uplifting and inspirational (and aspirational) as the 1976 film itself which was helped hugely by Bill Conti’s iconic score and of course one of cinema’s great scenes with Rocky running up the steps in Philadelphia made possible by Garret Brown’s ground breaking steadicam.
It lacks perhaps the pathos regarding where Stallone found himself at the time but nevertheless I Play Rocky packs a punch and is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
End credit : stay for the very end of the credits for an unexpected real life scene with Stallone himself
related feature : Stallone talks Rocky
related feature : Craig Fairbrass – Secrets of the Summer blockbuster Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone
related feature: Rocky director John G Avildsen obituary
Here’s the trailer…..
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