Matt Dillon Joins Peter Farrelly’s I PLAY ROCKY as Sylvester Stallone’s Complicated Father
Matt Dillon has officially signed on to play Frank Stallone Sr., the father of Sylvester Stallone, in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming film I Play Rocky, which is a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of one of cinema’s most legendary underdog stories.
The film comes from Peter Farrelly, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Green Book, and stars Anthony Ippolito as a young Sylvester Stallone.
Frank Stallone Sr. was a man of contrasts. After immigrating to the U.S. from Italy as a teenager, he became a successful hairdresser and entrepreneur, opening multiple salons and beauty schools across the East Coast.
But, behind that hardworking, charismatic persona was a complicated and often harsh father figure. In Netflix’s 2023 documentary Sly, Stallone recalled, “My father was Rambo in reality. Nothing was ever settled verbally.”
Despite their strained relationship, Stallone always sought his father’s approval, even giving him a small cameo as a timekeeper in the original 1976 classic Rocky. That emotional tension between ambition, pain, and legacy is something I Play Rocky seems ready to explore head-on.
Written by Peter Gamble, the film is described as “an electrifying true story about an unknown actor with an unshakable belief that he wasn’t just meant to write Rocky — he was meant to be Rocky Balboa.”
The story follows Stallone as he faces rejection after rejection, gambling everything on his dream and refusing to let anyone else play the lead role. It’s the ultimate underdog story behind one of cinema’s most iconic underdog movies.
The film also features Stephan James as Carl Weathers, the actor who famously portrayed Apollo Creed, and AnnaSophia Robb as Stallone’s first wife, Sasha Czack.
The project is being produced by Toby Emmerich and Christian Baha, with FilmNation Entertainment handling production services and international sales.
For Dillon, this role marks a return to the kind of intense, layered drama that earned him an Oscar nomination for his performance as Officer John Ryan in Crash. Over his career, he’s proven his range with roles in films like The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, and Drugstore Cowboy, while also showing off his comedic side in hits like There’s Something About Mary.
Most recently, Dillon appeared in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City and the Apple TV+ series High Desert.