Stallone on Rocky biopic: 'I'm not dead yet'
Sylvester Stallone thought Hollywood was getting ahead of itself with a film about his life.
“I’m not dead yet. Aren’t we jumping the gun a little bit?” he said during a conversation at 92NY while promoting his memoir The Steps, according to The Hollywood Reporter on 28 September. It was his first reaction to I Play Rocky. He laughed as he said it.
The film is a biopic, a drama built around a real life. It follows Stallone’s struggle to get the original Rocky made and released in 1976. Anthony Ippolito plays the young Stallone.
Peter Farrelly directed the picture. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, a launchpad where buyers and festivals often decide what reaches cinemas months later. It is an Amazon MGM feature and is set for a Thanksgiving 2026 release, The Hollywood Reporter reported in January.
Stallone stressed he has “nothing to do” with the production. No notes. No approval. That distance has not stopped him from watching Ippolito closely.
He said footage of the young actor fooled him completely. He thought he was looking at himself from the 1970s. That is high praise from a man known for guarding the character he created.
Ippolito has said the contact meant a great deal to him. He felt nervous before meeting Stallone and spoke with him both before and after playing him, according to People. Hearing directly from Stallone afterwards was “really impactful,” he told Variety.
The 92NY appearance was billed as Stallone discussing the memoir and the creation of Rocky as part of the new CBS Sunday Morning Live series. The talk ranged beyond the new film.
Stallone said he is trying to get Amazon to let him recut Rocky V, the 1990 sequel in the boxing series. He did not give details of what he would change. The rights now sit with the studio after its purchase of MGM.
For fans, this sets up a curious autumn. One Rocky story arrives in cinemas with Stallone watching from the sidelines. Another, much older one, might yet get a second life if he gets his way.
