Anthony Ippolito Gained 30 Pounds to Play Sylvester Stallone in 'I Play Rocky'

Anthony Ippolito gained roughly 30 pounds over nearly two years to play Sylvester Stallone in "I Play Rocky." The film, directed by Peter Farrelly, opens in limited release on Nov. 6 and goes wide on Nov. 20.

The transformation was more than a physical stunt. Ippolito bulked up from about 150 pounds to roughly 180 while training at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, as he previously told Variety's Clayton Davis. He spoke about the process Saturday at the AFI Fest screening of "I Play Rocky" in Los Angeles.

"It had its moments for sure. I was being tested," Ippolito said. "It's like a consistency thing, though. I had a great deal of time, so just an entire lifestyle shift and it was just one of the priorities of every day for a pretty long period."

What did family and friends make of the change?

The actor's gradual transformation confused people close to him.

"It happened over time, but a couple of people were like, 'What's going on?'" Ippolito recalled. "They didn't necessarily know I was doing the prep, and they were like, 'What's going on here?' I was like, 'I've been going to the gym, been eating.'"

The film follows Stallone's struggle to get "Rocky" made in 1976. Hollywood's odds stood firmly against him when he first pitched the movie. The finished film is now considered one of the greatest ever made.

AnnaSophia Robb plays Stallone's first wife, Sasha. Stephan James portrays Carl Weathers. The cast also includes Kiki Seto, P.J. Byrne, Matt Dillon, Tracy Letts and Jay Duplass.

How do you act opposite a 140-pound dog?

Ippolito's first day of filming brought an unusual challenge. His opening scenes were with a dog playing Butkus, Stallone's real-life bull mastiff. Stallone famously sold Butkus for $40 before he found fame because he could not afford to feed him. After selling the "Rocky" script, he bought the dog back for $15,000.

"I hadn't met that specific dog until like the day prior to shooting," Ippolito said. "He didn't happen to take a liking to me until a couple of days in. When you give him enough treats, then he started to warm up."

The dog weighed 140 to 160 pounds and did not cooperate at first.

"He just did whatever he wanted to do, and that was usually not what we were looking for him to do," Ippolito said. "In some ways they give you the most beautiful stuff. It's just you gotta be patient."

For audiences, the film lands as a portrait of persistence — an actor who refused to quit on a script Hollywood rejected, played by an actor who spent two years reshaping his body to earn the part.