EXCLUSIVE: PJ Byrne (Green Book, The Wolf of Wall Street), Toby Kebbell (For All Mankind, Servant), Tracy Letts (Lady Bird, The Post), and Jay Duplass (Industry, Transparent) are the latest to join the cast of Amazon MGM Studios‘ film I Play Rocky.
They join the previously announced cast, including Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone, AnnaSophia Robb as Sasha Czack, Matt Dillon as Frank Stallone Sr and Stephan James as Carl Weathers.
From director Peter Farrelly and writer Peter Gamble, I Play Rocky is a 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. Told “no” at every turn, Stallone bets everything on himself, holding the line on playing the lead against seemingly impossible odds. The result is the ultimate underdog story behind the ultimate underdog movie.
Byrne will play Irwin Winkler; Kebbell will play Robert Chartoff; Letts will play Sandy Maddox, a composite of Hollywood studio executives; and Duplass will play John Avildsen.
Toby Emmerich and Christian Baha will produce, with FilmNation Entertainment handling production services and international sales. I Play Rocky will be released in theaters.
The “Rocky” franchise, distributed by United Artists and later MGM, has become one of the most financially successful sports film franchises of all time, grossing over $1.7 billion globally, including the “Creed” spin-offs. Created by and starring Sylvester Stallone as underdog boxer Rocky Balboa, the franchise launched in 1976 with the original film winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Byrne starred in Green Book for Farrelly, Babylon for Damien Chazelle, and The Wolf of Wall Street for Martin Scorsese. He was also seen in Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic, in the role of Harold Leventhal. Up next, he will star in Warner Bro’s feature Flowervale Street. On the TV front, Byrne wrapped Five Star Weekend and can currently be seen as a series regular on the USA series The Rainmaker, and recurring on the Amazon MGM Studios series The Boys. He is repped by Greene Talent and Untitled Entertainment.
Kebbell can most recently be seen in the series For All Mankind and as the star of the series Servant, both for Apple TV. He made his TV debut in the Netflix series Black Mirror. Kebbell can recently be seen starring in the film Salvable, with additional film credits including Shane Meadows’ Dead Man’s Shoes, Fantastic Four, War for the Planet of the Apes, Wrath of the Titans, Ben Hur, Prince of Persia, Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla and Control, and The Female Brain. Kebbell is represented by CAA, Untitled, Independent Talent Group, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
Letts’ acting credits include films such as A House of Dynamite, Lady Bird, The Post, Ford v Ferrari, and The Lovers, as well as the TV series Showtime’s Homeland, HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, and FX’s The Lowdown. As a playwright, he earned the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for August: Osage County, which was later adapted into a feature film starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. Letts is represented by United Talent Agency and Weintraub Tobin Chediak.
Jay Duplass began his career writing, directing, and producing films with his brother Mark Duplass, including The Puffy Chair and Cyrus. Jay Duplass started his acting career in the Amazon Original series, Transparent, for which he received a Critics’ Choice Award nomination. Additional acting credits include FX’s Dying For Sex, HBO’s Industry, Netflix’s The Chair, Disney’s Percy Jackson, Outside In, and Beatriz at Dinner. Jay Duplass was the writer and director of The Baltimorons, which was released by IFC and won the SXSW 2025 Audience Award. His latest feature, See You When I See You, is currently in post-production. He is repped by CAA and OPE Partners.
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