New Rocky Biopic Movie Director Challenges Sylvester Stallone's Claim Over Involvement Role: "He Must Have Forgotten"

4 days ago 8

Published Apr 19, 2026, 2:22 PM EDT

Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025.

I Play Rocky director Peter Farrelly disputes Sylvester Stallone's claims about the movie.

While speaking with The Playlist for his new movie Balls Up, Farrelly says that Stallone's claims are not accurate, as one of the first things that happened while making the biopic was reaching out to him. The director explains that he only moved forward after the script written by Peter Gamble was sent to Stallone and received his approval. Farrelly suggests that the original Rocky star and writer may have forgotten about this or confused it with the memoirs he was working on, but is confident he will still like the final movie. Check out Farrelly's comments below:

I’ve read this a couple of times, and that’s not accurate. I don’t know what that’s about, but the first thing we did was reach out [to Sly]. First of all, that was another script that a guy named Peter Gamble wrote. And it came to me, and I was like, "incredible script!" So they said, "Do you wanna make it?" I said, "If Sly’s okay with it." And so they sent it to Stallone. He read it. And then I met with him at the Beverly Hills Hotel in LA. I said, "Hey, what do you think? I’m not gonna make it if you don’t give me the thumbs up."

And he goes, "Great. Do it." So we did it. But I guess along the way, he must have forgotten. The only misunderstanding I can imagine is that he was working on his memoirs. And I guess he was working on it while we were making the movie. And once we were done, I heard that. And by the way, he’s gonna be very, very happy because it’s a great story and he comes across fantastically.

Farrelly's remarks come in the same week of I Play Rocky footage being released at CinemaCon, which features Ippolito as young Stallone, Frank Stallone Sr. (Matt Dillon) telling his son that not everyone can be a movie star, and Stallone refusing to give up on the film despite doubting executives and some behind-the-scenes challenges.

Ippolito's performance and how similar he looks to Stallone has generated a great deal of positive reception from those in attendance at CinemaCon. Prior to this, it was announced that I Play Rocky will have a limited theatrical debut on November 13, 2026 and then have its wide release on November 20. These are fitting release dates since the original Rocky movie came out on November 21, 1976, with the biopic being a celebration of the franchise's 50th birthday.

Anthony Ippolito as young Sylvester Stallone running on the beach in I Play Rocky

Between the success of the Creed movies and the positive buzz surrounding I Play Rocky, the biopic has a great deal of potential to continue the franchise's upward momentum, but that could be threatened if the disagreement between Stallone and Farrelly escalates and overshadows the upcoming movie. Stallone claiming he wasn't involved at all and Farrelly insisting he was could dissuade some viewers, especially longtime fans, from seeing the new film.

With Rocky often hailed as the greatest sports movie of all time, and Stallone still a prominent star coming out with popular new projects like Tulsa King, I Play Rocky should have mass appeal and perform well at the box office, especially with its second week of wide release being during Thanksgiving.

Of course, Stallone and his father aren't the only characters in the film, with others connected to Stallone's personal life or the making of the movie. I Play Rocky also features Stephan James as Carl Weathers, AnnaSophia Robb as Stallone's wife Sasha Czack, Kiki Seto as Talia Shire, Robert Morgan as Burgess Meredith, Scot Teller as Burt Young, Jay Duplass as Rocky director John G. Avildsen, P.J. Byrne and Toby Kebbell as Rocky producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, Erik Palladino as Stallone's boxing coach Pete, and Rob Demery as Joe Frazier.