Anthony Ippolito

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Hello and welcome to another new episode of In the Envelope, the Actor's Podcast, where the biggest names in film, television, and theater offer acting lessons and behindthe-scenes insights you won't find anywhere else. I am your host, backstage senior editor Vinnie Manuso. And joining me today is a relative newcomer whose name you will be hearing a lot this awards season, the great Anthony Epilo. Now, some of you might have caught Anthony doing a pitch perfect Alpuccino performance in The Offer back in 2022. A talent for playing real people, he has turned up even more for Peter Farley's I Play Rocky, which tells the underdog story of Sylvester Stallone getting his iconic boxing drama onto the screen. Anthony's performance as Sylvester Stallone is quite frankly uncanny as anyone who's even seen the trailer knows by now. As the actor spent two years getting his body right and working on Stallone's ultra recognizable voice. Here we dive into that level of dedication as well as of course what Anthony feels about the idea of being a quote unquote overnight success. Let's get right into it. Here is Anthony Epelo. [music] - [music] - Anthony, how you doing? - I'm doing well, thanks. How are you? - Very good. I Well, first of all, congratulations on this performance. I must ask now that I'm here talking to you, you know, you probably having a lot of conversations about this film. You're talking to a lot of people. Have you been running into a lot of people who are like surprised to hear what your voice sounds like? Like just as Anthony. - It's happened a couple times. It's happened a couple times. Yeah. I love that you have been in a lot of origin stories. You are in I Play Rocky. You you were in you played Alpuccino. You we know a lot of uh we've seen you on screen in a lot of origin stories, but I'm not sure I know yours. I love asking actors their acting origin story. Sort of like when they first felt the pull, you know, and like when you sort of realized that this is what the next era of your life was going to be. Well, I actually kind of got pulled into it at a pretty young age when I was a little kid. I played baseball and some people had uh kind of recognized I was pretty pretty oddly good at a young age and uh I ended up on like the local news for when I was about 3 years old and then somehow it became like a bigger thing and I went on more things uh like Regis and Kelly and Ripley's Believe It or Not and started doing all this stuff when I was a a really little kid and um somehow through that I think a commercial agent approached one of my parents and uh started you know doing commercial auditions u you know one of my parents thought it was a good good way to maybe try to build a college fund or something and you know but I didn't get very many of these uh for pretty much most of my childhood but yeah that's how I got in there - I mean this is nothing to do with acting but like what does oddly good at baseball Like - I was throwing like 40 miles an hour at like a 3 years old and people thought that was pretty abnormal I guess. Yeah. - I mean it's I've never seen it personally. I've never seen a three-year-old through a 40-year-old. I think your your IMBB page says your your film debut was in a film called Bella Boy on the subway. Is that accurate? I'm very curious to know what that experience was like because you would have been quite young on that. - Yes, it is. Yes, it is accurate. I was very young. Uh, and I'm not even sure how old honestly, but I do remember that a little bit. Like little pieces of it, I guess. We were on the subway the whole day shooting that, but that was the first uh movie I did. Yeah. - I'm I'm curious, you know, you reading about your experience and I Play Rocky and just listening to you talk, you know, this was clearly something you you attacked very academically. This is something you you you really took from like a couple different angles between the physicality and learning the voice and stuff like that. So I'm as here it sounds like you were sort of pulled into the acting world. At what point did you sort of start looking at it as like something like it's it's interesting as a kid actor you're just doing what is being asked of you and then at what point were you like oh this is something I need to learn and something I can apply like - strategy to this? Yeah, it was probably around around 17 I started uh really kind of uh falling in love with it and uh studying and really developing an intense appreciation for acting. - Has there been anything that has particularly worked for you? Like I I I understand that it's it's very uh nobody likes to be asked what their process is. It's just like a is do I have a process? Like have you been building something like that or is it really just like have you been attacking these things one at a time? - A little bit of both. I think every I mean every project's completely different in in Right. And uh yeah, I I do think there's a lot of I you know, I put a lot of uh emphasis on on the the script and really using that as uh a guide and so starting there and yeah, I mean that's really big. I know that sounds like just like a one thing answer, but I that it's not. It's uh script uh is something that you can always go to, especially if it's well written. In this case, it really was by Peter Gamble. And um you know, so if if it's uh if the dialogue is rich and you know, there's there's a lot of stuff to dive into with it. - There's a sort of great irony to the fact that you are, you know, this is a conversation we're having about the movie I play Rocky, which is about like this this intense period of Sylvester Stallone's life where, you know, he was just trying to get a break. He was this sort of hungry period of his life. and because of this role you had that that is that is getting you such attention. There is that conversation of like, oh, this is an overnight success story. You know, this is an actor who came out of nowhere. But I think that that's never true. That's never true for anybody. So, I do want to kind of just start there and and and ask you about, you know, what your thoughts are and the idea of an overnight success and what that has meant to you as someone who I I imagine went through their own hungry period and knows what that's like. - Yeah. I mean I I I'm sure overnight success is and those story I'm sure that exists somewhere. I'm sure it happens or has happened in all these different worlds or career paths especially today. I mean, now it's just very different, I guess. But for me, no, this um I've been, like you mentioned, I've been acting since I'm I'm very young, and I've been uh I've gone on so many auditions, it's hard to keep keep count. And I've also been been very fortunate in certain ways. I mean, it's um I know a ton of actors who are incredibly talented and further along the line and a bit older and it's a it's a very difficult uh difficult line of work sometimes. That's for sure. And you know, a lot of people from the outside don't know that because they're seeing the other end of it. And the only reason they'll even see something to talk about is if there's a a project and it's a success on some level. And so, yeah, some people might not know that. You you mentioned it the the audition process. This is a movie especially in its first sort of first act that is is about that life and how hard it is you know the the auditioning life. So I want to ask you know just right off the the top you know what kind of auditioner are you? How do you find auditioning and is how is that evolved in your your time as an actor? - Yeah. Uh I said it's tricky. It's every audition is different. Like every every process is different. And um and I how do I find auditioning? I when I was younger, I really hated it. I hated it. It's a weird process. And the word rejection, it's it's it's it's not, you know, it's just there's so many nos, I guess. Uh but and it's difficult. A lot of people fi find it really difficult. You have to develop a thick skin and uh you don't want to take it personally, but it's easier said than done. Uh, but I I've kind of been doing it for a little while, so you start to uh make friends with the process a little bit. But it's also a part of your job. Like it it kind of is your job in in so many ways as an actor. So, you know, it's an opportunity to to practice your craft and to to work in front of in front of people and to present your work and and that's exciting. And so, you know, staying staying on on the on the positive stuff is probably uh is the best way of going about it. - I think this this for anyone who has seen this movie or will see this movie that it it sets such a good tone in the what like you said, you try not to take it personally, but there are some that feel very personal and I think that's that's a it's a feeling that is very strong in this film is like eventually you're like, well, this must be something about me that they're not getting. - Yeah. Yeah. But it's it often times it's not. And so that's but it's it's it's tricky in that in that way. Yes. - So I've I've seen se I I think this is something other people have said. I've seen several different versions of the story of your audition for this film and I kind of want to hear from you cuz it sounds like it was sort of um something you took upon yourself to do and uh it was kind of unique in the way that you got on on board the train of this movie basically. - Yeah. Uh no one asked me to to audition for this. Uh, so I kind of just read an article that they were making this this film. Peter Fairley was and uh I was a huge fan of his and I I looked into a heard somehow of Stallone's some of Stallone's struggles and I I was just fascinated and I was like, man, how do I kind of try to talk to somebody about this cuz I was so uh so so interested in in in the story. And uh I just kind of took it upon myself to to make make some stuff and kind of make my own audition and uh send it their way and thankfully uh it ended up working out. - Certainly did. I I'm curious what that audition um you know what then became the process because that's it's it's not something that a lot of people sort of understand because I've I've heard many stories about how you people hear about something's happening they're like I really want to be a part of that. So like at what point did it become like I want to be a part of that to like they're ask they are finally asking you to actually audition and like what what that transition was like where it's like okay now this is now I'm in the running still don't have the role but like I'm in I'm in the - didn't turn into them asking me to audition either uh [laughter] to be honest. - Did they ever ask you to audition for this role that - uh no uh no sides or anything? uh just more so uh got my hands on more of the script and uh and then I was really interested cuz I I I just um Peter Gamble, you know, like I said, wrote such a such an incredible script here and uh so many of the characters are so well written. Anyway, I just was even more invested and then I just started taping, you know, stuff from the script and just continuously sending them stuff until they were either going to tell me to to leave them alone or that they were interested in talking more. So, thankfully it was uh it was the latter. - I love that. I I I do love to because you know, we talk a lot about on this show about the grind of auditioning and like you said, you just sort of get used to saying no. So I I always want to ask about the flip side of that about, you know, what the conversation was like when they offered you the role, you know, like what was the day like where you found out you'd be playing Sylvester Stallone. - Wow. Yeah, it was uh it was pretty uh incredible. I got a I got a call from D um you know the director Peter Fairley and uh he told me you know he wasn't sure about the start date and there was all of this uh stuff still up in the air about the project as a whole and I you know apparently it was very difficult uh to try to get it to the starting line but uh he told me that uh that I I had the part and I just uh it was a incredible incredible moment for me I'll tell you that is uh really cool. - And so like what when when what does it feel like for you? What does it look like for you when the uh the work begins? Cuz like I'm always I'm al I'm also very curious to hear about the day after the big thing, you know, like so you get this call that you're going to be in this movie once it gets to the the start date, but then you know, you wake up the next day and you're like, "Oh, I I'm going to be in this movie. I have to not do the work." So like, you know, you have the the the leadup, you have the call where you're going to get the role. What does sort of the next day look like for you where you're like, "Okay, well, train's on the tracks now." - Yeah. - Um, for me, uh, in this specific situation, the train was already moving. Uh, like my train was moving. So, if I found out I didn't get it, I was going to I was going to have to shut shut down the train. But in in this train is gone now. - Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. Uh but then so him him giving me that call just kind of told me that it was uh it was happening and uh I continued uh the work that I had put in just to present the the auditions and um you know kind of stayed on that track uh the entire uh prep process the prep phase. It was just uh pretty long stretch of time honestly where I was just uh starting to you know deepen my my research of Stallone and my understanding of him and you know find as much footage uh of his uh of him as I could from the time. I mean this takes place from 1972 around to 1976. So it's a little tricky because there wasn't that much footage on him from that period of time. He wasn't a huge star then. So I, you know, I was trying to find as much as I could from that time. - There's this this great line from in the movie PJ Burn as producer Winkler, you know, where he says like, "Excuse him, it's the first time as a number one on the call sheet." I I imagine this was your first time as number one on the call sheet. Yeah. - Uh in your career, what that means? It it means literally what it means, but it also means more than that, you know? It's like you are setting a tone. You're So I'm curious what your experience was like. both logistically what it was like to be number one on the call sheet and what it meant to you as like the film is on your shoulders essentially. - Yeah. I mean I like we had such a great cast. This was very much an ensemble piece that it's not it's is that way I guess on the on the call sheet but it's not I mean you go to work every day with all these veterans. I mean, I just felt like I was I had such an opportunity to learn from these guys cuz actors like Matt Dylan and Tracy Les are showing up every day or that Jay Duplass, PJ Burn, Toby Kebab, Anna, Sophia Rob, Stefan James. I mean, they've all had so much experience that I'm learning from them the whole time. And there there is a certain level of okay, I want to maybe try to set a tone if I can. Uh, and just try to keep everybody feeling good. But, uh, I everybody kind of really, like I said, was a veteran in their own right. So, I didn't feel as much of that pressure. What's interesting about that about this film is that it it really shows like how the movie is made and it's not shot sequentially. You know, it is not the plan is not the plan very quickly. So I'm curious, you know, when you entered this thing, you had done all this prep. You had physically gotten into the shape you needed to be in. You had very clearly done a ton of work on the voice, which is really impressing people. - What then after all that work was the first thing you shot? You know, like after all the work is done, all the prep work is done, you you it's time for the director's action, you have to act. Like what was the very first thing you shot for I Play Rocky? very first thing we shot was uh the scene where Stallone's letting go of the butt kiss. So - first days with a dog which is - Yeah. So that was day one and uh Irwin Winkler uh was on set for that day as well and so it was uh that was day one. It was a important scene. Whether you're grabbing a chopped cheese in Harlem, catching the ferry in Queens, or hitting Kay Town, your health care should never be far away. Metro [music] Plus Health has you covered citywide with doctors and clinics right in your neighborhood. Get care, answers, [music] and the help you need. No wait, no stress, no long commute. Find a doctor, check your coverage, or apply now. Visit [music] metroplus.org org or call 833-2188463. [music] Metro Plus Health for people, not profit. once you got to the end of the run, you know, and this is just true of anything, but here you were playing a a a real person, you know, whether you felt like you had grown into the role, like when you look at that first day and then you look at sort of like when you were wrapped when when you said that's a wrap on Anthony Bledo and you were you were done for the day or done for the done for the project, do you think you had any more of an understanding of playing that character than you did at the beginning? - Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're you're learning new things every day, and that's not that's a very real thing. That's not a a joke or an offhand thing. Like, that's you you really are like every day, especially with this shoot, it's testing you in certain ways that, you know, you can prepare all you want and I did. There's a lot of preparation. It's just when you're on set doing some of these things. Um, and it was also a very physical shoot. And in that way, it tested me and yeah, you come out on the other end, you definitely feel changed a little bit. - I'm curious if there's something specific that comes to mind that you'll carry like that that you're sort of like you did not know or not not that you didn't know it, but it was something that will stick with you into whatever project that that comes next down the road where you're like that this comes from I play Rocky. - Yeah. I think maybe it's just um the work leading up to it was done, you know, by my, you know, pretty much uh on my own and then you show up and then there's this it's this big set and there's a a huge crew and a lot of incredible people. Um, but it's a lot of chaos and I think um, over the course of the shoot it was kind of really learning to take take that in and acknowledge it, but also have a have a relationship to it where it's not impeding on your process and on your work where it's, you know, it can it can serve you in a way, but it can also be a hindrance if you, you know, can't interact with uh, with it the right way. And so that that was definitely an interesting important part of this. - I'm always curious to talk to anyone who's playing an actor and like actively acting as them in the project. You know that we are we are watching you play Sylvester Stallone play Rocky basically in those moments. I'm curious about what you've obviously done all this work seeing how he acts watching Rocky seeing what it looks like the finished product. We know what it looks like on screen but you still have to have your instincts as an actor. So I'm I'm curious whether there was ever any overlap or discussion about where your instincts as an actor would work for something versus like how he did it. You know, you sort of have to do it as he did it, not as you. Does that make sense? You like anytime you're like how I would say the line, but it's not how he said the line. - Sure. Well, that's Yeah. I mean, it's trying not to get overly technical about it. I mean, that's I guess a part one of the traps with something like this is trying not to get into the little pieces of, oh, how does he pick something up or it's like it's there's this is an an interpretation. The whole story is um a two-hour version of uh incredible events that unfolded for this man 50 years ago. And so there's a certain uh creative there are certain creative liberties that you have to be willing to take just for the sake of bridging the gap. Yeah. Was there you know any particular word or phrase that helped you get into the voice and was there any word or phrase that was particularly hard to say that not as you as Sylvester Stallone? Um [sighs and gasps] there wasn't really a word or phrase. I think it was trying to understand the origin of it was really informative. I mean understanding that the the source of the the facial paralysis from the birth accident that happened to him that is uh it presents you with like a a real reason as to why his voice became so so singular and so unique and was and and it also informs you know a lot of things that he was able h to endure because his whole childhood was affected by that. And so, you know, learning things about him uh was was just as as helpful. - I I'm curious because there's this very I want to very relatable moment in this film where he once the the production is done and and Rocky is in theaters, he he finds that he cannot he cannot bring himself to sit through like the beginning of the movie. He cannot watch what it's on screen. I'm always curious to ask actors whether you're a a a watcher of your own work, someone who can can handle sitting there and watching themselves on screen. [snorts] - Yeah, I I don't know. I guess I'm I'm a huge fan of Peter Fairley as a filmmaker. I've said that. And so I look at it like I'm getting to experience, you know, his his work and and everybody else's work in the movie. Relationship to watching my own stuff, I'm not sure. But I I really um got a kick out of out of seeing uh seeing a lot of the other actors who have become uh great friends of mine now in in this cast do their thing. And that's I mean it's it's really it's really been fun watching them. - Yeah. You get you're watching a Peter Farley movie. You're not watching your it's it's it's you kind of have to be like that's not me up there. That's I'm watching NFL. - Yeah. Right. Right. And he did such a great job on this and um I just Yeah. That's very fun to watch in a theater. - Throughout this process, so much of this movie is about the the the leap of faith of creating stuff for yourself is the only way that that Rocky is going to get made. It's the whole it's the title of the film. It was he had to make this for himself. Whether living this experience has has given you any pull towards making stuff for yourself, writing, you know, sort of creating in that in that sense. - I I I wouldn't take it off the table. I think it's definitely really incredible what he was able to do and I think some of the best films have been made in this sort of fashion where you kind of take out the middleman and uh you're really able he's able to see his his vision through all the way uh to the end to the by the time it's on screen. So, I wouldn't I wouldn't write uh take it off the table, but also I just think it's great that he wrote it longhand, you know, with a big pen and to see I think it film's about a lot of things, but it's also I think a love letter to the creative process in that way. - I'm curious, I think I've seen you talk about this a little bit, but as you know, as someone who's going to be discussing this movie a lot, you know, it's it's something that audiences, despite what does well, what doesn't do well, what people want to see, they're always interested in stories about how things get made. They're interested in stories about actors, about movies, about like you said, about the sort of personal touch to film making. And I'm curious as someone who's both in the film, has seen the film, did a deep dive into this period of Sylvester Stone's life, what you think the interest is in like that kind of story in the stories about people who who put their heart and soul into something as opposed to like the spectacle of it. - Well, I think it's just like a really human story uh at its core. I think there's something very universal about the underdog story. I mean, Rocky, I think, blazes a trail for all of these other underdog films to kind of come after it. And I think in this specific film, you get to see a different angle or, you know, behind that story, the man writing it and all of the parallels. But I think that there's something really intriguing about it because he's such a unique guy and had encountered so much adversity. And I think that's part of why the underdog story is so relatable. I think all of you know all of us in some way, shape or form have some relationship to that type of story and some uh some personal connection to the idea of the underdog. And I think that's maybe why it's still being talked about 50 years later. - There's a through line throughout this film about how actors must and often do lie about being able to do something uh whether they can or not because you're asked to do something. You're like, "Yeah, sure. I can do that." Is that something you've experienced in your career? You know, it's sort of just like being like, "I'm down. I'm down. I can do that." And then you sort of have to learn to do that. - Not [snorts] as much, honestly. I mean, in some instances, sure. Like um I've heard people say all sorts of crazy stuff like you can juggle, you can horseback ride, you know, whatever it takes. But I've always thought how how do you do this? Like if if you if you say that and then you and you have to shoot in like a month, if you can't do it, you're actually in you know what happens? So - you're on camera proving you can't do it. Yeah. And so, but in certain instances, if if it's a white lie to to get in a door or to close something, you know that it's different. But, uh, but yeah, I'm typically pretty careful about it. - Yeah. - You don't you don't recommend lying, but who would recommend? - Maybe good makeup. - Yeah. - Exactly. - Right. - You recommend stretching the truth if if needed. - Sure. - If necessary - here and there. um speaking to you about this, you know, and and reading all the things you did, you know, the finding of the earlier footage of of Sylvester Stallone and then just seeing what it was like and and and all the research you did and all the work you did and the physicality work you did as well. Reminds me of, you know, when we had Austin Butler here to talk about Elvis, you know, he he very much it was a similar conversation of how he got into that role. And the interesting thing about that was the sort of like afterwards period, the the the coming down period. I'm I'm curious about what it was like for you where you know you found that suddenly you did not need to think about Sylvester Stallone on a daily basis and to that level you know like what what was the process like of coming down from this role where you're playing a real person and now suddenly the rest of after rap you're back to just just being yourself. - Um honestly it was uh it was it was pretty nice. I by that point I was pretty pretty tired. I was I we had done a lot of uh a lot of stuff. It was a quick shoot. There was a lot of prep up until the shoot, but the shoot itself, they shot Rocky in 28 days. This one shot in about 34. And so you we were moving fast and every day was uh was a challenge in one way or another. And so by the time we got to the end, of course, there was a certain level of like sadness and like definitely a grieving type of grieving process. And I also was going to miss the the cast and the crew. Like I mean, we really got close, but I was I was also very very spent. I was I was kind I was able to take a take a breath afterwards. Yeah. - You know, now that you've done this and as I mentioned, you're als you you've played Alpuccino in the past. These are not the only roles you've done, but they're they they took a lot from you as you're saying. I'm curious what you've learned in your process for playing real people that you find will be or has been helpful in playing a fictional character going forward, you know, like what what is it about how you prep to play a real person that you're like, well, that also is will be very helpful, you know, going down the line playing a fictional character. - Yeah. I mean the approach is is is somewhat similar in that like I said you're taking certain creative liberties. So you you are actively imagining so much of it and um in that respect it's really not very different and I and I like I said and you're also showing up on the day and uh seeing what these other actors are bringing to the table and that never that doesn't change and working on the work on the script you know all that stuff is is pretty pretty consistent all the way through in the process of this but But yeah, there are some differences, but I I just feel like I've been learning a lot. Just being able to work with the these uh with with Peter Fairley as a filmmaker and uh you know, a lot of the directors who worked on the offer were incredible. Dexter Fletcher worked on that as well. And so I've had the incredible privilege of uh learning from from those from those filmmakers as well. - You've mentioned Peter Farley a couple times now. I I'm always curious to hear both how you like to be directed. you know, what is your preferred back and forth with director and what helps you the most? And you know, what you found surprising about working with someone who has been directing for that long. Is there anything in particular, any piece of direction that you gave that really would would illuminate what it's like to work with Peter Farley? - Uh, yeah. I mean, how I like to be directed, I I don't know. Every director brings something different and has a different style. And um I like I like that. I like it to be different. And um I think with Peter some of the really interesting stuff with him is he he has such well his work there's so much heart in so many of his films but he's got he understands comedy so well and Rocky I mean a lot of people might not remember or notice but like Rocky's got a lot of comedy in it even through the entire franchise there's there's a lot of funny beats and uh it really does round out the the film and uh it contributes to that heart. And uh he's so keen to catch all these uh all these sorts of moments that pop up that aren't necessarily on the page. And he'll he'll find them just uh each day or you know in one of the performances if the actor's bringing something and he sees something um he's got a a lot of ideas. - I love that. As we come to the end of the the time here, I I I I I'm always very aware of how not unpleasant, but nobody likes to talk about themselves for for for that long. So, I do like to end by sort of asking, you know, whether there's another performance you've seen recently, whether it's a newer film, older film that set a set a tone for you, set a bar, you know, something a performance you've seen recently that affected you both as an actor and just someone who loves watching movies. - Oh, man. H I saw Ed Norton in The Invite recently. I thought that was terrific. I thought he was just great in it. Um, but yeah, I mean, there's so much stuff being made right now that I'm excited about. - Love that. Well, we're very excited about that and of course, I play Rocky. It is it is something I believe people are going to be talking about for the rest of this year and and [music] we'll be we'll be talking to you again down the road, but for now, this was lovely. Thank you so much. - Oh, well, thank you for your time. Thanks as [music] always to our brilliant producer Jamie Muffet and to the whole team at Backstage, Samantha Sherlock, Mark Stinson, Caitlyn Watkins, [music] and of course Casey How. Visit backstage.com and don't forget you can subscribe to Backstage with Code Envelope [music] at checkout for a free trial. 100% free. You simply cannot beat that. For more exclusive content, find us on Facebook and Twitter, in the envelope, and [music] subscribe, share, and leave a comment. Who should we interview next? Let us know. [music] Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time for another Peek in the envelope.