# ‘I Play Rocky’ Star Anthony Ippolito on Becoming Sylvester Stallone and Acting With a Dog: ‘He Wasn’t a Huge Fan of Me’

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/i-play-rocky-star-anthony-ippolito-on-becoming-sylvester-stallone-and-acting-with-a-dog-he-wasnt-a-huge-fan-of-me/
- Published: 2026-10-25T01:10:16+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-25T02:09:36+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/film/columns/i-play-rocky-anthony-ippolito-sylvester-stallone-dog-1236930482/
- Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment

## Key points

- Anthony Ippolito spent nearly two years preparing to play Sylvester Stallone.
- He gained about 30 pounds for “I Play Rocky”.
- The dog playing Butkus took several days to warm to him.

## Summary

Anthony Ippolito says playing Sylvester Stallone in “I Play Rocky” required him to adopt a demanding training routine and build a muscular physique, as well as capture Stallone’s voice. The film follows Stallone’s struggle to get “Rocky” made, showing the difficult odds he faced before the film became widely regarded as a classic.

Ippolito said he spent nearly two years gaining weight, from about 150 to roughly 180 pounds, while training at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn. His first filming scenes included Butkus, the dog playing Stallone’s pet, who initially did not take to him and often ignored direction; treats helped the dog warm up. Stallone had sold Butkus for $40 when he could not afford to feed him, then bought him back for $15,000 after selling the “Rocky” script. “I Play Rocky”, directed by Peter Farrelly, opens in limited release on 6 November and goes wide on 20 November.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.