London Festival Surprise Is Farrelly's 'I Play Rocky'

The BFI London Film Festival's 2026 surprise film was Peter Farrelly's 'I Play Rocky', starring Anthony Ippolito.

The reveal came on Friday evening at London's Royal Festival Hall, where the audience filled the room without advance notice of the title, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Farrelly walked on stage before the screening to introduce it. The slot is one of the festival's most talked-about tickets. People book blind.

Ippolito plays Sylvester Stallone. The film follows the scramble to make the 1976 boxing film 'Rocky', the underdog story that won three Oscars including Best Picture.

It is a behind-the-camera story, not a remake. The focus is the young actor trying to get his script made and hold on to the lead role himself.

The ensemble around Ippolito includes Matt Dillon, AnnaSophia Robb, P.J. Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, Jay Duplass and Kiki Seto, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Dillon plays a veteran producer figure. Robb, Byrne, Kebbell, Letts, Duplass and Seto round out the team that orbits the production.

Farrelly directs. He also produces alongside Christian Baha, Toby Emmerich, Paul Currie and Michele Weiss.

The screening landed near the end of this year's festival. The 70th edition of the BFI London Film Festival runs through Sunday, Oct. 18.

London was not the first outing for the film. 'I Play Rocky' held its world premiere on a Saturday night in the Special Presentations programme at the Princess of Wales Theatre, according to Variety. That launch put it on the autumn festival circuit ahead of London. ScreenDaily critic Jonathan Romney has also reviewed the film.

For fans, this means the surprise worked as intended. Few subjects carry this much recognition. Even an audience that bought tickets blind knew the bell, the steps and the name the moment Stallone's story began.