I Play Rocky

Sylvester dreams of being an actor, but he has been raised in poverty and scrapes by any way he can. When one night in a pub he watches the legendary boxing match on TV in which Chuck Wepner knocks Muhammad Ali to the mat, and it triggers an irrepressible inspiration in him: in a few feverish days, he writes a script about a losing boxer who gives it everything he has to make it, and succeeds in bringing it to a Hollywood Studio. The producers read it and are excited, they are ready to buy the screenplay on the spot. But that’s not enough for Sylvester: he wants to be the one to play Rocky Balboa. And he will not give in.

COMMENTARY
On the fiftieth anniversary of Rocky, the true story of the film that transformed the unknown Sylvester Stallone into a global phenomenon, launching him forever among the Hollywood stars.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
When I read Peter Gamble’s screenplay, I couldn’t put it down: it was the best I had ever read, by far, the best ever proposed to me. I saw Rocky when it came out, and I remember thinking it was a masterpiece. Over the years I had heard some stories, but not to the extent that Gamble told them. One of the things I love most is the moment when Stallone says he will not give up the role: it was not a question of money, he had to do it. I wanted to tell this story as authentically as possible. Me, Sean Porter and J.B. Rogers all studied the original Rocky and kept asking ourselves what was missing. It was teamwork, with great attention to detail.