Stephan James plays Carl Weathers in I Play Rocky, Peter Farrelly’s film about how a then-unknown Sylvester Stallone, played by Anthony Ippolito, got Rocky made with himself in the lead. Weathers went from pro football to Hollywood, and James told AfroTech Culture that what stands out most about his path is how he refused to be boxed in.

“I think what Carl was really, really great at was challenging this narrative or going against what people may have expected from him,” James said. “I think that his physicality presents itself in such a way that it’s easy to always have him be the athlete or the cocky, swaggerific kind of guy, but I think that he made a lot of concerted efforts to show different things, to show charisma, to show charm, to show humor. It helped him spawn a directing career.”

“This is an artist through and through that I think did everything he could to not have himself be defined by just Apollo Creed and the Rocky franchise, which could have easily been the story and where it ended,” he continued. “After this film, Action Jackson, Predator, Arrested Development, all the things he’s done, to be able to remove himself from that Apollo Creed lore and to be able to be successful in other avenues, I think is really, really special.”

In the film, James plays both Weathers the actor and Weathers performing as Apollo during his audition.

“What was so interesting about that scene is it presents an opportunity to show so many different layers at one time,” he said. “I can be Apollo Creed and Carl Weathers in the same breath, and so making that switch was really important to be able to do in real time.”

“I was a lot more fascinated with Carl and who he was,” James added. “Carl, the actor vying for this job at this time, and being able to differentiate him from whatever we know as Apollo, this larger-than-life figure that had so much confidence and swagger. Carl himself had moments of insecurity in this film and moments of not being his best self. I really took pride in trying to build something that felt like I was building a human performance, adding a layer or an element to him that felt really personal, that felt like, ‘Oh, I’m not supposed to see this version of this guy, but I’m getting to see it.’”

James brought the film to TIFF

The Amazon MGM Studios film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and Farrelly told AfroTech Culture that was James’ doing. The team had discussed debuting it in Europe until James, a Toronto native, reached out.

“That’s why we went to Toronto, actually, because he called us up and said, ‘Hey, you know, I’m from Toronto. Is there any way we could show at the Toronto Film Festival?’” Farrelly said. “There was talk about going to some other place, Europe, and I was like, absolutely, if it’s your town, let’s do it. So I’m glad we did.”

He also said James was the actor he hoped would take the role, though James had other offers at the time. Farrelly said he couldn’t see making the film without James and Tracy Letts.

“When I saw his audition, it was like a no-brainer,” Farrelly said. “Right away, before he says a word, he’s got an energy, and he nails it. It was a saving grace to get him, because I don’t know who else could have done what he did.”

I Play Rocky opens in select theaters Nov. 6 and expands nationwide later in November.