‘I Play Rocky’ actor has underdog tale of his own

He went to great lengths to prove he could go the distance.

When no one asked Anthony Ippolito to try out for the lead in “I Play Rocky” — a new biopic about Sylvester Stallone and the making of his classic underdog boxing film — the 27-year-old actor made an audition tape on his own in his grandmother’s basement.

“I just had to give it a shot, even though I figured that no one might ever see my tape,” he says. “I had friends film some stuff down in the basement. I tried my best.”

Grit and perseverance filled in the blanks.

“I sent more tapes. More tries. I figured either they would tell me to stop or maybe something was going in the right direction,” Ippolito says in a Zoom call. “Thankfully, the right direction showed up.”

A few of those tapes eventually made it to Stallone himself, who said, “This guy is better at being me than me.”

Now, Ippolito is starring in “I Play Rocky,” out this weekend.

The film captures a time when a young Stallone was broke, with a pregnant wife, and hovering on the edge of homelessness.

After watching underdog boxer Chuck Wepner last 15 rounds against heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali, which no one expected, Stallone felt a burst of inspiration. He wrote a screenplay called “Rocky” in three days.

Later, Stallone insisted only he could play the underdog fighter. (He turned down $300,000, the equivalent of almost $2 million today, for screenplay rights). Stallone eventually won the right to play his title character, and the film won the best picture Oscar in 1977. “Rocky” celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, returning to theaters in a remastered 4K version Saturday through Wednesday.

“This film is a love letter to Stallone’s perseverance,” says Ippolito, who shared his good life advice:

Underdog role

Ippolito, best known for playing a young Al Pacino in “The Offer,” knew sending in his blind audition tapes was a long shot, but he didn’t let that stop him. He read that the likes of David Corenswet, Jacob Elordi and Timothee Chalamet were up for the role. “All I wanted to do is get my foot in the door,” he says. “The key was I didn’t stop. It fit the bigger story.”

Puncher’s chance

Before he made his tapes, the actor studied Stallone’s early interviews and watched films such as “Rocky” and “The Lords of Flatbush.” “I had to work on Stallone’s unique voice,” he says. Right-handed Ippolito also made sure to practice boxing as a southpaw like Stallone.

Getting strong now

Ippolito adopted a rigorous gym routine to turn himself into Rocky. “I trained five or six days a week for over a year, and sometimes I was in the gym twice a day,” he says. “I tried to capture that silhouette that everyone knows from ‘Rocky.’ It was all about discipline and consistency.” He says the “Rocky” running scene to “Gonna Fly Now” felt epic. “Even with the training, I felt pretty tired by the end of it,” he acknowledges.

Like a champ

Ippolito finally got to meet Stallone about a month before filming. “I was nervous, but he was so disarming and sweet, so generous and open, and willing to share that period of his life,” he says. What stunned him the most? “It was pretty dark for him back in those days,” Ippolito says. “He was on a pretty lonely road. He was vulnerable in sharing this tough time.”