I Play Rocky charts the unbelievable true story of how Sylvester Stallone made Rocky. The movie put Stallone on the map and cemented Carl Weathers as a movie star in his own right. Stephan James brings Weathers to life in I Play Rocky, depicting the football player-turned-actor as a confident young performer whose swagger and persuasiveness land him the role of Rocky’s opponent, Apollo Creed.
James’ reverence for Weathers is evident, having rooted for Creed to win at the end of Rocky when he saw the film for the first time as a child. “I didn’t know he was the bad guy,” James laughed. “So that tells you how I felt about him pretty early on.” He noted that he admires how Weathers, who passed away in 2024, was a football player who had always loved acting, and “wanted to show people he was more than just his athleticism.”
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That refusal to be put inside a box shines throughout in I Play Rocky. Weathers arrives to his Rocky audition in peak shape, but it is his confidence in the audition room was enough to convince the film’s production team to cast him. Weathers insulted Stallone’s acting in the audition, not realizing Stallone was the film’s writer and star, and that tension made Weathers the perfect foil to Stallone’s underdog.
Stephan James knows the challenges of playing real people.
Weathers even claimed to have boxing experience in order to land the role, only to reveal that it’s a lie he told to book the role. “Oh, that happens all the time,” James smiled when asked if he’s ever tried a similar tactic in auditions. “It really is just a part of our journey as actors…that’s the fun of it. You get to learn a new skill or something that you wouldn’t have known had you not gotten a role.”
Like Weathers and Rocky, James had never boxed before booking I Play Rocky. He trained for a scene recreating Rocky and Apollo’s famous showdown before course-correcting everything he learned. “I had to get in great shape, and then I had to learn to box, and then I had to unlearn all the boxing to make it look like I didn’t know a thing,” James said.
Though Weathers isn’t the first real person James has portrayed–he previously appeared as John Lewis in Selma and starred in the Jesse Owens biopic Race–the responsibility of bringing beloved figures to life hasn’t lessened. “American heroes, Black heroes, or world heroes…they resonate with so many people,” James said. “It is a little bit of a daunting task anytime you’re going to step into somebody who actually existed.”
As actor Carl Weathers, James holds his own in I Play Rocky.
After researching Weathers’ life and creative process, James praised Weathers’ “poise, his level of intellect, charisma, charm, just everything he embodied” and felt those are key qualities for “any person, really, any leading man” to have. “I’ll take that in life, let alone business,” James said.
James’ embodiment of Weathers goes beyond the runtime of I Play Rocky. For one of the film’s premieres, James recreated one of Weathers’ own red-carpet looks: a bespoke white suit from the Rocky II premiere in 1979. Though James credited his publicist with coming up with the idea, James called it an “incredible honor” to step into Weathers’ shoes one more time through fashion.
While I Play Rocky is undoubtedly Sylvester Stallone’s story, James makes a strong impression as Weathers, making the most of his screen time with equal confidence and vulnerability. Though Weathers went on to star in Predator, among other films, James joked that should he have the opportunity to play Weathers again, I Play Creed might not be a bad place to start. Jokes aside, James holds his own opposite I Play Rocky‘s ensemble, delivering a knockout performance.
I Play Rocky is out now in theaters.
