It’s no surprise that Toronto International Film Festival was the perfect venue for Peter Farrelly to launch his latest film “I Play Rocky.” The biopic following the creation of Sylvester Stallone’s classic not only premiered to euphoric reactions in the theater following its first screening, but subsequently placed as the first runner-up for the festival’s People’s Choice Award. With the subject matter being inherently targeted toward the industry, and the film seeming to succeed as a crowdpleaser, one now has to wonder how it could fare in the coming awards season. Obviously, Farrelly carries a lot of baggage, and many are already allergic to this type of film, but it’s clearly appealing to enough people to consider its chances.
Perhaps the biggest sign pointing in the film’s favor is unrelated to its placement, but to the second runner-up “Being Heumann.” In recent history, two out of the three Toronto placements have consistently gone on to be nominated for Best Picture, which obviously is no hard set rule, but the buzz for “I Play Rocky” is enough for this trend to possibly continue. With “La Bola Negra” winning the festival’s top prize, and “Being Heumann” being the less-enthusiastically received film to place, the table has been set for the Thanksgiving release of “I Play Rocky” to really explode. It says a lot it was able to beat strong Best Picture contenders like “Wild Horse Nine” and “The Debut.” The excitement that bled out of that first Toronto screening is likely indicative of the larger reactions people will have in theaters later this year. It’s almost a cheat code for a rousing crowdpleaser to have half of the film consisting of recreated scenes of one of the most beloved American films, and the other half being an underdog story of its creation. However, easy as it may be to be cynical about the film’s reception, it will work for enough people as it did here, and if its buzz maintains and viewership grows, it may be hard to avoid it.
The package for the film will be interesting if it truly were to get into Best Picture. The main point of curiosity would be Best Actor, and the lead star who “plays Rocky” Anthony Ippolito. One would think if this makes it into the Best Picture category, he would have to come along, but Best Actor is unusually competitive this year, especially for a complete newcomer to break in. It would take both “Digger” and “Behemoth!” underwhelming and falling off for Ippolito’s nomination to even be realistic. Even then, he’d have to contend with other fringe contenders, like John Turturro for “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” but if Ippolito’s film is the one in Picture, it may just push him over. The praise for Ippolito’s performance has been very tied into the praise for the film itself, so it would be strange for him to not come along. Best Original Screenplay is similarly crowded by the same films filling up Best Actor. Those could make room for “I Play Rocky,” but perhaps it doesn’t even need the support of the writer’s branch to stay in the top category. Best Picture, Best Actor, and at that point Best Casting, could be more than enough. Some have extended praise to AnnaSophia Robb, but we would have to see how the currently-messy category of Best Supporting Actress shakes out to see if she would fit in as a newcomer.
After Farrelly won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for “Green Book” nearly a decade ago, many upset with those wins felt the Academy has in years since have moved past rewarding the types of films he makes. While this doesn’t seem to run into the same type of insensitivities people found upsetting in “Green Book,” it still is a very safe and old fashioned style of crowdpleaser; they type many hoped we were past rewarding. However, if you remove the outdated politics of his last contender, the type of standard audience hits that Farrelly tries to make have been rewarded plenty in the decade since. A widely-enjoyed film about filmmaking – especially making something as beloved as the original “Rocky” – is one many Academy members would be more than excited to still reward.
It’d be curious to see what precursors “I Play Rocky” may get to lead up to a Best Picture nomination. Obviously, something like PGA is where a film like this lives and dies; it can even get in there if it misses the Oscar nomination. Golden Globes and BAFTA may be a bit trickier, but with how many nomination slots the Golden Globes have, it would be secured a spot in at least Best Actor. Critics Choice is another organization that should be nominating this if it’s a true contender, especially with how many Best Actor slots they are open to having. The Actor Awards are where this could really shine. Ippolito would need to get in there if he has any chance of repeating with Oscar. With the types of films SAG-AFTRA goes for, it could even get into Best Ensemble and maybe a random Supporting nomination as well. The potential precursor run is quite clear to map out, but there are also very clear steps that, should it miss, the party would end there.
“I Play Rocky” has all the makings of a Best Picture nominee, if a wider audience responds to it the way Toronto did. While the festival has had many false starts before and the film may have peaked here, there’s plenty of reason to consider it making a splash throughout the rest of the year and into the coming awards season.
Are you excited to see “I Play Rocky?” Do you think it could contend in Best Picture? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account, and check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.
