'I Play Rocky': Peter Farrelly To Direct, Toby Emmerich To Produce Sylvester Stallone 'Rocky' Origins Pic

Peter Farrelly, 'Rocky' Michael Buckner for Deadline/Everett

Oscar winner Peter Farrelly will direct and former Warner Bros Motion Picture Boss Toby Emmerich will produce I Play Rocky, a film about how Sylvester Stallone bet on himself to play the star-making title role in Rocky. CAA Media Finance and FilmNation are selling at Cannes.

Emmerich and Farrelly are producing with Christian Baha, and Peter Gamble is writing the script.

Here’s the pic’s blurb: A struggling actor with a partially paralyzed face and a speech impediment writes a script that a big movie studio wants to buy, but he refuses to sell it unless he gets to play the lead. Turning down an offer of life-changing money, he instead works for pennies to get the movie made with himself in the starring role. The movie becomes the biggest box office hit of 1976, notching 10 Oscar nominations and winning Best Picture. The true story of the making of the iconic movie Rocky.

Casting is underway on the pic from Baha Productions, Fireside Films and Eden Rock Media.

“I’ve been a fan of Peter Farrelly as both a filmmaker and a person since getting to work with him on the music for Dumb and Dumber,” Emmerich said. “But it was Green Book that made me think of Pete for this inspiring screenplay. Christian Baha and I feel blessed to have Pete at the helm for this movie. And like the unknown Stallone starring in Rocky, Pete will be conducting a worldwide search to discover another actor who just needs one shot — in I Play Rocky — to show the world what he can do.”

Baha added: “When I first read Peter Gamble’s energetic and poignant script, I knew it captured something very special. The story of I Play Rocky is as unique as Sylvester Stallone himself, a seeming Everyman with an undeniable gift who needs to share it with the world and refuses to take “no” for an answer. And like the hero of our film, Baha Productions needed grit and determination as we fought for years to make this project into a reality. We are so fortunate to have teamed up with Toby Emmerich and Peter Farrelly, two legendary talents who not only share but enhance our vision of the film.”

CAA Media Finance is handling U.S. sales for the film at the Cannes Market this month, and FilmNation Entertainment has international.