Anthony Ippolito says meeting Sylvester Stallone was "overwhelming"

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Anthony Ippolito says meeting Sylvester Stallone was "overwhelming"

Writer: Heidi Hsia

Anthony Ippolito in the underdog story of Sly Stallone

14 Sep - Anthony Ippolito recently admitted that playing the younger version of Sylvester Stallone and meeting the actor was an overwhelming experience for him as a young actor.

The 27-year-old, who spoke to THR at the Toronto International Film Festival recently, shared that he actually got to speak to Stallone, who wrote and starred in the original movie prior to the production of "I Play Rocky".

"It was very overwhelming and daunting. There's a lot going on in my head, but I was really just trying to listen as much as possible and hear his perspective. Obviously, Rocky's an underdog story and he's an underdog in the movie, but Stallone in a lot of ways was an underdog in his actual life," he shared.

Anthony Ippolito plays the young actor-screenwriter Sylvester Stallone

Stallone had a dog called Butkus, the same bullmastiff breed featured in the movie

Ippolito said that Stallone shared a lot about himself, including the paralysis on the lower left side of his face that was caused by an error made by the doctors during his birth.

"[The paralysis] obviously made trying to become an actor really difficult. And so, hearing his firsthand account of what that is like; he really just endured a lot and went through a lot. It's a miracle that this film came to be and that people still celebrate it 50 years later," he said.

"I Play Rocky," which has Ippolito playing the young Sly as he tries to get his screenplay to the big screen prior to it being one of the biggest hit films of the 70s, is set to be released in November.

Cinema Online, 14 September 2026

Related Movies:

I Play Rocky (19 Nov 2026)

Rambo: Last Blood (19 Sep 2019)

The Expendables 3 (14 Aug 2014)

Creed 2 (29 Nov 2018)

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