Dumb and Dumber director Peter Farrelly is slated to direct I Play Rocky with Toby Emmerich co-producing. Written by Peter Gamble, the film will follow a younger Sylvester Stallone as he struggles to make Rocky.
According to the film’s blurb, Stallone struggled to find success in Hollywood due to a half-paralyzed face and speech impediment. He soon pitched his story for Rocky to many major studios, who were all eager to buy the rights. However, Stallone refused to sell the story unless he played the lead role. Because of this, Stallone funded the movie himself and earned ten Oscar nominations, winning Best Picture.
Emmerich expressed pride in the story both Farrelly and Gamble developed. He admitted that he was always a fan of Farrelly since his work in Dumb and Dumber, “but it was Green Book that made [him] think of Pete for this inspiring screenplay.” With this story underway, Emmerich hopes the film will find a talented yet unknown actor “who just needs one shot — in I Play Rocky — to show the world what he can do.”
Co-producer Christian Baha from Baha Productions called the story special due to its story of determination to make it big while following one’s dreams. “The story of I Play Rocky is as unique as Sylvester Stallone himself, a seeming Everyman with an undeniable gift who needs to share it with the world and refuses to take “no” for an answer,” Baha noted. He compared Baha Productions’ efforts to bring this project to life to Stallone’s story since both “needed grit and determination as [they] fought for years to make this project into a reality.”
There is no casting or production news, though CAA Media Finance and FilmNation are shopping it around at Cannes.
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