From The Hollywood Reporter · Scott Feinberg · · 1m 20s
Why 'I Play Rocky' Smells Like a Best Picture Winner
Two Oscar histories, fifty years apart, point at the same underdog playbook now running in Toronto.
In brief
Two Oscar histories, fifty years apart, point at the same underdog playbook now running in Toronto. Toronto's audience award is one of the loudest early signals in the Oscar race, and 'I Play Rocky' is built from the exact underdog material that has won before. Originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
History rhymes in Toronto
A film about Sylvester Stallone making Rocky arrives at TIFF carrying two separate Oscar precedents on its back. Anthony Ippolito plays Stallone for Amazon.
“Sometimes, history repeats itself.”
The bicentennial long shot
Fifty years ago, a small film about a nobody boxer going the distance with the champ turned into a giant hit nobody at the studios saw coming.
It beat the heavyweights
John G. Avildsen's Rocky took best picture over All the President's Men, Network and Taxi Driver. Stallone wrote it and starred in it.
Green Book split the room
Eight years ago another low-profile film premiered at TIFF, annoyed a lot of critics, and played through the roof with the paying festival crowd.
“it polarized critics but played through the roof with festivalgoers”
The audience award pays
Peter Farrelly's film won the TIFF audience prize, rode it to multiple Oscar nominations, and walked away with best picture.
Same shape, new fight
Underdog story, unfancy pedigree, a crowd that loves it more than the critics do. That combination has cleared the Oscar bar twice already.
The big picture
Toronto's audience award is one of the loudest early signals in the Oscar race, and 'I Play Rocky' is built from the exact underdog material that has won before.
