That's exactly the case with "I Play Rocky," which debuts in theatres this Friday and pays homage to the iconic movie that debuted 50 years ago.

In the "making of" biopic, actor Anthony Ippolito stars as a spitting image of franchise creator Sylvester Stallone.

The film follows Stallone, who bet on himself as a struggling actor to write the script and stand on his ground to star as the fictional boxer Rocky Balboa.

Directed by Peter Farrelly, "I Play Rocky" is already garnering tremendous traction for Oscar consideration, just like the Academy Award-winning original film from five decades ago.

"Rocky is an incredible underdog story that blazed a trail for a bunch of underdog stories to come after it," Ippolito told The Ring during a roundtable discussion. "You feel inspired, and you feel hopeful afterward. Hopefully this film affects people in a similar way."

The Rocky franchise, which has expanded in recent years with the addition of the Creed films, ranks among the highest-grossing entertainment entities of all time, generating nearly $2 billion in worldwide box office revenue.

Made in 1976 on a budget of less than $1 million, the original Rocky became a box-office phenomenon, earning nearly $225 million worldwide. The film went on to win three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing. Stallone, meanwhile, earned Oscar nominations for both Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for his portrayal of the iconic Italian Stallion.

After playing Al Pacino in "The Offer", a miniseries chronicling the making of "The Godfather", Ippolito does a commendable job bringing the young Stallone to life.

To prepare for the role, the svelte 27-year-old New York native gained nearly 40 pounds to properly portray Stallone, all the way down to his distinctive speech delivery.

"I was very excited but also pretty nervous to play an iconic character like Stallone," Ippolito said. "It was a more physically demanding shoot than I expected. I needed to gain a considerable amount of weight in order to really capture his silhouette.

"Stallone is such a specific, unique and idiosyncratic guy. He choreographed the fight scenes in the film, and a lot of people don't know that. And he did that with almost no boxing experience whatsoever. That really was eye-opening to me because he was just so dedicated to his vision, and so specific about what he wanted, that he didn't want to let anything else get in the way. He was willing to kind of go out on a limb to make sure of what he wanted from the fight scenes."

Farrelly comes from a family of filmmakers, and his credits include Green Book (2018), There's Something About Mary (1998) and Dumb and Dumber (1994). He said it was a foregone conclusion to have Ippolito portray the role of a young Stallone.

"When we saw his audition tape, it was a no-brainer that this is the guy," Farrelly said. "I didn't take a chance – it was 100% guaranteed this was the guy. It wasn't like he was close – you saw it. He's unbelievable."

Months into the pre-production process, Farrelly said he didn't realize Ippolito played Pacino in "The Offer" despite having watched the series because that's how well Ippolito disappeared into his roles.

"He really transforms to be a character," Farrelly said. "This was the closest thing to 'Raging Bull' that I've seen, where Robert De Niro transformed to become Jake LaMotta, and that is what Anthony did.

"I think Rocky is a boxing movie, but it is also a character piece. It's more of a boxing movie than 'I Play Rocky' … I thought it was a pretty accurate representation of how you make a movie."

The film also stars the likes of Matt Dillon, AnnaSophia Robb, P.J. Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, Jay Duplass, Stephan James, Kiki Seto, Robert Morgan, Saul Stein, Trevor St. John, Erik Palladino, and Rob Demery.

Stallone, who recently released his memoir "The Steps", has already given his seal of approval for Ippolito’s knockout role.

"It means the world to have Stallone's approval, and having a positive response from him is incredible," Ippolito said. "I can't tell you how much it means. I was a fan of his before all of this. Learning more about him and his story, I've only become more of a fan and admire what he was able to overcome. This movie is a bit of a love letter to what he was able to achieve."