Toronto International Film Festival adds Stallone's 'Rocky' biopic and more to 2026 lineup
· Toronto Sun
See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source
Visit newsbetting.cv for more information.
The Toronto International Film Festival added a flurry of titles to its 51st edition on Monday, including the world premiere of a biopic about the making of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky.
North America’s largest film festival unveiled several anticipated Gala and Special Presentation titles from internationally acclaimed directors such as Pedro Almodóvar, Cristian Mungiu, Mike Leigh, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and many more.
One of the buzziest additions comes from director Peter Farrelly, who casts Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone in I Play Rocky. The film tells the behind-the-scenes story of the making of the 1976 Oscar-winning classic.
Farrelly has had success at the festival in the past. Back in 2018, his drama Green Book debuted at TIFF and went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars the following year.
The making of Stallone’s Rocky is the ultimate underdog tale. Speaking to Postmedia last year, the legendary actor said producers offered him “a fortune” to sell his screenplay and let them cast another actor in the career-making role of a down-on-his-luck boxer.
“They offered me $30,000 for Rocky. You understand, I had $106, period … That was it. Then for some reason, like two people at an auction, the studios kept bidding against one another. It went up to $80,000. Now $80,000 was like $400,000 today. Then it was $200,000, which is like a million dollars. Then it went to $360,000, but I couldn’t let it go,” Stallone said.
“I knew it was like giving my child away. I knew I would never get an opportunity to play a character like that. I tried to accentuate all my strengths and get rid of all my flaws (in writing Rocky). I was built to play this character. If I gave it away, I knew I would live in self-loathing for having given up. This was my only chance. I was never going to get a good part. I could tell I was always going to be the gangster, the thug, the bully, and by the time I was 40 I was going to be done.”
“Told ‘no’ at every turn, Sylvester Stallone bets everything on himself, holding the line on playing the lead against seemingly impossible odds,” a plot description for the film reads. “The result is the ultimate underdog story behind the ultimate underdog movie.”
I Play Rocky also stars Stephan James, Matt Dillon, AnnaSophia Robb, P.J. Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, Jay Duplass and Kiki Seto.
Fest also adds Chris Rock, Courteney Cox world premieres
Also slated for the festival is Chris Rock’s Misty Green, which the comedian writes, directs, and stars in alongside Rosalind Eleazar, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace, and Anthony Anderson.
Friends star Courteney Cox explores the true-crime story of the infamous “pizza bomber” case in Evil Genius.
Toronto will also unveil Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, his follow-up to 2024’s Oscar-winning A Real Pain.
Danny Boyle’s Ink, which is set to open the Venice International Film Festival, stars Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch and charts the rise of the U.K.’s Sun newspaper. The film will also make its North American premiere in Toronto.
The festival also announced that its closing-night film will be Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend, a sports drama following the early years of Canadian Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve.
Elsewhere, the Palme d’Or-winning Fjord, a Norwegian political drama that stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, will make its North American debut in Toronto.
Lauren Miller Rogen is also set to make a splash, teaming up with her husband Seth Rogen for the comedy Babies, which follows a couple struggling with the decision of whether or not to have a child.
Organizers announced earlier this month that Being Heumann , director Siân Heder’s film about the late disability rights activist Judith Heumann, will open this year’s festival.
Other high-profile titles, including the science-fiction comedy Alpha Gang, which stars Channing Tatum, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Cate Blanchett, Dave Bautista, Chris Pine and Lily Rose Depp, and the Ryan Gosling-produced Love of Your Life , are also coming to TIFF.
The 51st edition of TIFF runs from Sept. 10 to 20.