00:00I'll say hi, we're the cast of I Play Rocky, yeah?
00:02And you're watching The Hollywood Reporter.
00:03Yeah.
00:04You're gonna get that?
00:04Yeah.
00:04You guys are gonna get it?
00:05Yeah, we'll hit that.
00:05Yeah, we'll hit that.
00:07Hi, we're the cast of I Play Rocky, and you're...
00:21Do you have family coming today?
00:23Absolutely.
00:23Half the theater season.
00:25Try not to sink too deep into this,
00:27because then it becomes a little, like, yearning.
00:29Hi, I'm Saya Rankin with The Hollywood Reporter,
00:32and here with me is I Play Rocky.
00:34Hi, guys.
00:35How are you doing?
00:35Thanks for coming in.
00:36Peter, I believe I read in your director's notes
00:38that you met Sylvester at the Polo Lounge.
00:44That's right.
00:44At the Beverly Hills Hotel.
00:45Yep.
00:46And I want to hear about that story
00:49and how that kicked things off.
00:50And I also believe you said that was the first time
00:52you'd ever had a real meeting at the Polo Lounge?
00:55Yes.
00:55I'd been there once or twice over the years.
00:58I mean, this was like an old-time Hollywood meeting
01:00in the corner table, his table, back there.
01:04It was fun, you know.
01:05He'd send me to the Polo Lounge.
01:06Great.
01:08But, yeah, I told Toby Emmerich, our producer,
01:11I'm not making the movie unless Sylvester signs off on it
01:15and says go to it.
01:17So he read the script.
01:18We met him there.
01:19And, yeah, it was great.
01:21He had read it, and he said go ahead.
01:23Did any of you guys who were in the movie
01:25know the story of the making of the movie
01:28and, like, what he went through behind the scenes
01:30to get it made and to start?
01:32I knew a little of it.
01:33Like, I think a lot of people know bits of it,
01:36but I didn't know the big picture.
01:38I didn't know all the twists and turns.
01:41There were millions.
01:43Like, people think they know this story, but you don't.
01:45There's so many things like the way the studio,
01:48not only were they fighting him, but then once he got on board,
01:51they were, I don't want to say they were sabotaging him,
01:53but they were making it hard for him so that if he got behind schedule,
01:56they could replace him with somebody else
01:58and millions of other little details.
02:01Yeah.
02:02I've known little shades here and there.
02:04I've heard stories, but I didn't know all of it
02:07in the way that I came to after reading the script.
02:09Do you remember the first time you watched Rocky or any of the...?
02:12I remember, I have a vivid memory of seeing Rocky Balboa in the theater
02:16when I was like 10 or 11.
02:19And, yeah, that moment's kind of stuck in my head.
02:23Jay Duplass, who, you know, is brilliant in this movie,
02:26he has, he recalls it as being like one of his first memories ever of life.
02:31Whoa.
02:31Seeing Rocky.
02:32It's like when he like clicked in.
02:33That sounds convenient.
02:35Pretty cool.
02:36Listen, no, I mean...
02:37Makes for a good story.
02:38Yeah, and it was one of his favorite films and one of mine,
02:41and so it's like very, very cool to be in this situation, yeah.
02:44Yeah, Jay had actually reached out to me.
02:46I had always wanted to hire an actor who's also a director
02:50to play John Avildsen,
02:52but before we even get to that point, he called me and said,
02:56hey, Rocky's my all-time favorite movie, can I be Avildsen?
02:59I said, okay.
03:00Aww.
03:00I was like, seriously?
03:01I said, yeah, let's do it.
03:03Sweet.
03:03Didn't read him, didn't do anything.
03:05You know, I'd seen him act.
03:06I knew he was perfect.
03:08Did anybody ever in their life get their chance,
03:10get the chance to meet their counterparts?
03:12Yes.
03:13Oh, yeah, I spoke with Talia.
03:15Okay.
03:16She called me, so that was a really special conversation
03:19that I got to have with her, and she just told me about,
03:23you know, she was a new mother at the time,
03:25so that was a miracle that was happening in her life,
03:28and then, you know, being a part of Rocky was another additional miracle,
03:32so she had this miracle momentum, and then she also told me about
03:37how Adrian looked at Rocky just with such love in her eyes, too,
03:42which was really such a helpful conversation to have.
03:46Yeah.
03:47I got to speak to Stallone prior to making the movie,
03:51and it was a lot to take in because I had spent, like,
03:55over a year by that point studying him,
03:57and so it was very overwhelming and, like, daunting,
04:00and, you know, there's a lot going on in my head,
04:02but I was really just trying to listen as much as possible
04:04and hear his perspective, and, like, you know,
04:07obviously Rocky's an underdog story, and he's an underdog in the movie,
04:10but, like, Stallone in a lot of ways was, like, an underdog in his actual life.
04:14Like, you know, since he was born, he had this facial paralysis
04:17that kind of made everything difficult
04:19and obviously made trying to become an actor really difficult,
04:22and so hearing, like, you know, his firsthand account of, like, what that is like,
04:27and, you know, he really just endured a lot and went through a lot,
04:30and it's a miracle that, you know, this film came to be
04:33and that people still celebrate it 50 years later, you know?
04:36Before you started working on this movie,
04:38did people always tell you that you looked like him, or did that...?
04:42I got all different types of stuff, you know?
04:44Like, people throw names at you sometimes, and it came up.
04:47It definitely came up.
04:49But, yeah, I was always, like, in terms of stature,
04:51I was just, like, a kind of thinner guy,
04:53and Stallone had that, like, specific kind of physique,
04:56and so that was a big part of, like, the preparation
04:59to try to really get that part of it, yeah.
05:01You probably never met Carl, or did you?
05:04No, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Carl.
05:06I've, since being cast in this film,
05:10I've bumped into a couple of people
05:12who've had the pleasure of meeting him,
05:14and so I just sort of relish in their stories
05:17of his warmth and his presence and his humor,
05:23and so, yeah, for me meeting Carl
05:26was really just going on an intimate deep dive in interviews
05:29and, you know, some of the more intimate moments of him
05:32not being on, if you will, to try and develop
05:36who this character was going to be.
05:38Yeah, that's tough when you can't...
05:39I mean, it's like you could meet Michael B. Jordan,
05:42who played a version of him already, and ask him
05:44about playing him, I guess, is, like, the closest.
05:46Well, yeah, there's Mike. Shout out to Mike. There's that.
05:49Gotcha.
05:50What did you guys do?
05:51Did you both have to get into, like, fighting shape?
05:53Yeah.
05:54Yeah.
05:55I mean, you know what, for me, it's so funny,
05:57you know, hearing Anthony talk about having to put on weight,
06:00you know, it was actually the reverse for me.
06:02When I found out that I was cast, I was maybe 205 pounds,
06:07and by the time we started filming, I trimmed down to maybe 185, 180,
06:15and I realized that instead of trying to put on 20, 30 pounds
06:18and look like the Hulk, maybe if I trimmed my body fat,
06:22I could accomplish it a little bit quicker in the two months that I had,
06:26and it could create the appearance, you know,
06:29that I was bigger than I actually was because I had shredded.
06:33And thank God the camera, you know, helps a little bit.
06:35No, you were chiseled.
06:37Yeah.
06:37I mean, he came in, like, you know, he was better shaped than Carl Weathers.
06:41You know, Apollo Creed.
06:43Did you have, like, a spray painter person on set to spray on muscles if you needed it?
06:47Hey, we can't give away all the tricks.
06:49Can't give away all the tricks.
06:50This is movie making.
06:51What did you do to bulk?
06:54Well, eating anything crazy?
06:55Eating a lot of food all the time.
06:58A lot of protein.
06:59Yeah.
06:59That was kind of a, you know, really long, arduous process, honestly.
07:04But it was what you had to do, and we really wanted to get that.
07:07And I think, you know, in terms of, like, the physicality and, like, the mannerisms,
07:10a lot of things start to change kind of naturally when your body shape changes a bit.
07:15And so that was super helpful.
07:16Who do you go to if you want, like, advice or stuff?
07:19Like, who do you go to if you're stuck on something making a movie?
07:22I'm, like, a collaborative filmmaker.
07:24You know, my brother and I worked together for years, and we still are working together on things.
07:29And so I'm used to always having someone to bounce things off.
07:32And so I always kept it that way.
07:34Like, I told everybody, you know, come on in and see it whenever you want.
07:37And let's talk about it.
07:39Like, I, and I bounce it off.
07:40You know, my editor Sam Saig is world class.
07:43And my wife is really good.
07:44And my wife, Melinda, has got great taste.
07:46And she'll come in, you know, point things out.
07:48So I just show everybody, my kids, my wife, my friends, you know, whoever's around.
07:53This is, how long ago was it that you had Green Book debut here at TIFF?
07:59It was seven years ago.
08:02Was there anything that happened in that screening or at the festival that, like, tipped you off?
08:06Like, this one's going to be a big one.
08:07People are connecting to it.
08:09Like, kind of, how do you read the tea leaves?
08:11Well, I had never played a movie in front of 2,000 people before.
08:15And I knew the movie was good, but the reaction here was, there were two great moments in the thing,
08:24during the whole run of that.
08:25One was being at Toronto, that overwhelming support I felt that night.
08:31And then the Golden Globes were that way, too.
08:36And then it was all downhill from there.
08:39Yeah, the award show, that'll tip you off that it's doing well, is nominations.
08:43Whose opinion of this movie means the most to you?
08:47Stallone's.
08:48Yeah.
08:48Yeah.
08:49Has he seen it?
08:50Easy one.
08:51Yeah, he loved it.
08:52And it's such a relief.
08:53I was afraid, you know, because he watched it alone, for one thing.
08:57And this plays really well with the crowd, and I was nervous, him sitting there alone.
09:02And for many other reasons, there's a lot of stuff in there, especially in the beginning when he's down and
09:06out.
09:07All that stuff, and it's rough to watch, but yeah, of course, that would be, yeah.
09:13And I think a lot of the real fans of the franchise, there's a lot of them, and they're really
09:18passionate, and they care about this character.
09:20This character has really impacted so many people in kind of a spiritual way, that you can't help but want
09:26those people to enjoy it.
09:28Did you ever feel hesitant to take the role because of how much it means to people?
09:34No.
09:35Yeah.
09:36No, I mean, I was fighting for it.
09:38I knew I could do it.
09:39Fighting for it, fighting for it.
09:40By the way, it wasn't much of a fight.
09:41Like, we never considered anyone else after him.
09:45In fact, we hadn't even started casting, and he sent us a tape in the mail that he had made
09:51in, I think, his grandmother's basement.
09:53And he had somehow found the script, put himself on three scenes, and sent it to the casting agent, Rick
10:00Montgomery.
10:00And he said, I think we got Rocky.
10:02He sent it to me.
10:03I was like, this is him.
10:04And the studio, they love the script by Peter Gamble.
10:08It's a great script.
10:08And they said, but how are you ever going to find Stallone?
10:10I said, well, where am?
10:11And they said, but you haven't even started casting.
10:13I said, he found us.
10:15And I sent them the tape, and they called 10 minutes later and said, okay, we'll do this.
10:20Perfect.
10:21Great story.
10:21Well, thank you guys so much for chatting.
10:23Appreciate it.
10:23Appreciate it.
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