Dolph Lundgren made his character Captain Ivan Drago, a worthy opponent in Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago – The Ultimate Dire. While he gave Stallone a hard time on and off the screen, the character returned in Creed II.
For the most part of his glorious career, Stallone has been a wonderful screenwriter, in fact, the actor’s big break in Hollywood was through the Rocky franchise solely because he wrote the first movie of the installment. Yet in Creed II, Lundgren was not in agreement with some portions of the film and voiced his opinion, which made the director worried.
Also read: “I hated him”: Sylvester Stallone’s Reason for Hating Dolph Lundgren Was Pure Jealousy
Dolph Lundgren Stood Up To Sylvester Stallone For the First Time
While Creed II was in development, Dolph Lundgren was not in agreement with Sylvester Stallone’s re-writing of his character from Rocky IV. “I play Ivan Drago again, my character from Rocky IV,” Lundgren told Graham Bensinger.
“There’s a scene which is a wonderful scene in The Script between uh Rocky and Drago this is seen over a table and I loved this scene in the original script was really great because my character finally kind of opens up but why what happened to him after Rocky IV was what did you done for these the past 40 years and Sly had started had Rewritten the scene he had started he’s a good writer he started rewriting it and I didn’t agree with some of the writing.”
Stallone wrote the screenplay with Juel Taylor, and Stallone’s rewriting of the scene was not digestible to Lundgren, but it was more discomfort for the director Steven Caple Jr. “And the directors as young guys Stephen cable nice guy but obviously, he he didn’t want to get in the fight between me and Sly,” Lundgren continued. “He got a little scared, so he stayed out of it. It was the first time it kind of stood up to Sly.” Further, the actor went on to add that Stallone has always been his boss and “older brother” but this time he stood by his guns.
Sylvester Stallone Once Made Dolph Lundgren Cry
Speaking with Graham Bensinger, the 66-year-old Swedish star candidly revealed his bittersweet relationship with Stallone. “We had some good times some bad times kind of like like families to some degree,” Lundgren said. The actor also recalled a scene in the Stallone-directed 2010 movie The Expendables— the first movie of the franchise— when “he was very harsh on me on the scene and Expendables one.” Where Stallone “kind of yelled at me in front of the whole crew and had me had me do about 20 takes on the scene.”
“And uh it was like my grandmother could do it better than that. What the f*ck you what are you doing? You know like basically in front of everybody and there was press there that day too, International press. To a point where I, um, we took a lunch break and I remember I was kind of in tears. Uh, I mean I was really upset and I called my wife the time and I basically just told her you know, if he says one more word I’m gonna knock him out and this movie. I’m out of here, I’m just gonna punch him out and leave.”
However, the lunch break calmed everything down on set.
“And I think when I walked on the set people felt a certain, it wasn’t such a Good Vibration and then I had a tap on the back and it was Sly,” Lundgren continued. “And he was like ‘I’m sorry about that let’s let’s just do another take and let’s just keep moving on,’” he added, explaining the incident.
The actor further revealed that they have “had a few run-ins over the years, but you know, you see what can I say he’s a crazy Italian.” Also, Lundgren believes that Stallone is aware of his love and respect, which sustained their long-term friendship.
