EXCLUSIVE: P.J. Byrne (Green Paper, The Wolf of Wall Street), Toby Kebbell (For all humanity, Servant), Tracy Letts (Lady Bird, Post Office)and Jay Duplass (Industry, Transparent) are the latest to join the cast of the 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 screenwriter Peter Gamble, I play Rocky is the true story of an unknown actor with the unshakable belief that he was not only meant to write Rocky, but that he was meant to be Rocky Balboa. When told “no” at every turn, Stallone bets everything on himself, staying the course by betting his head 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 group 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, became one of the most financially successful sports film franchises of all time, grossing more than $1.7 billion worldwide, including the “Creed” spin-offs. Created by Sylvester Stallone and starring underdog boxer Rocky Balboa, the franchise launched in 1976 with the original film winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Byrne starred in Green Paper for Farrelly, Babylon for Damien Chazelle, and The Wolf of Wall Street for Martin Scorsese. He was also seen in Searchlight’s A complete strangerthe Bob Dylan biopic, in the role of Harold Leventhal. Soon, he will star in Warner Bro’s feature film Flowervale Street. On the television side, Byrne packed 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 recently appeared on the series For all humanity and as the star of the series Servant, both for Apple TV. He made his television debut in the Netflix series Black mirror. Kebbell can recently be seen in the film Recoverablewith additional film credits including that of Shane Meadows Dead man’s shoes, The Fantastic Four, War for the Planet of the Apes, Wrath of the Titans, Ben Comment, Prince of Persiaat Guy Ritchie On rock’n’roll And ControlAnd 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 office, Ford vs. FerrariAnd Loversas well as Showtime’s television series Country, HBO Making time: the rise of the Lakers dynasty, and the FX The truth. As a playwright, he has won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for August: Osage Countywhich 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 inflated chair And Cyrus. Jay Duplass began his acting career in the Amazon Original series, Transparentfor which he received a Critics’ Choice Awards nomination. Additional acting credits include FX Die For SexHBO Industry, those of Netflix The president, Disney Percy Jackson, Outside InsideAnd Beatriz at dinner. Jay Duplass was the writer and director of The Baltimoreswhich was published by IFC and won the SXSW 2025 Audience Award. His latest feature, We’ll see you when I see youis currently in post-production. He is replaced by CAA and OPE Partners.
