Peter Farrelly's 'I Play Rocky' Surprise-Screens at London Film Festival

By Elena Vasquez

Peter Farrelly's "I Play Rocky" screened unannounced as the London Film Festival's surprise film on Friday night. The biographical drama traces the origins of Sylvester Stallone's 1976 boxing classic "Rocky" and reaches U.S. and U.K. theaters on Nov. 6.

Farrelly introduced the screening in person and used it to single out his lead: 27-year-old newcomer Anthony Ippolito, cast as Stallone.

"I could do a TED talk about Anthony Ippolito. This kid is ridiculous," Farrelly said.

How did an unknown land the role of Stallone?

Ippolito did not wait for the film's planned casting process. Farrelly told the London audience that the production had intended a "worldwide search" for its Stallone — but Ippolito preempted it.

"He heard about the movie, tracked down the script, shot three scenes in his grandmother's basement on Long Island and sent it to us," Farrelly said. "I looked at it like, 'That's it.' We never looked past him."

Three self-shot scenes ended a search that had spanned the globe on paper. In plain terms: the unknown beat the process before the process started.

The film's cast list circles Stallone with named real figures:

• AnnSophia Robb as Sasha Czack, Stallone's wife
• Matt Dillon as Frank Stallone Sr., his father
• P.J. Byrne as "Rocky" producer Irwin Winkler
• Jay Duplass as director John G. Avildsen

"I Play Rocky" tells the true story of how Stallone, then a small-time actor, fought to both write and star in the 1976 film that became a franchise.

What did the critics say in Toronto?

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last month, where it competed for the People's Choice Award and drew positive reviews. Variety's chief film critic Owen Gleiberman called it a "cleverly-crafted crowd pleaser" and praised Ippolito for getting Stallone "just right."

"Watching and listening to Anthony Ippolito, we can believe that Sylvester Stallone is standing right in front of us, though the performance is more than just an awesome impersonation," Gleiberman wrote. "He's truly playing Stallone — the sweetly stubborn and dogged person he was at the time."

Does Stallone approve?

By Farrelly's account, the verdict that mattered most has already come in. He told the London audience that Stallone himself has seen and approved the film.

"No matter how well the movie does, how many people like it, if Stallone said, 'I don't like it,' I would be really disappointed," Farrelly said. "And he loved it."

One sentence settles it: the subject's endorsement is on record before a single ticket is sold.

The Nov. 6 theatrical release in the U.S. and U.K. will now test whether Toronto's People's Choice buzz and London's surprise-slot momentum convert into a wide audience for a film about the making of a boxing classic.