Sylvester Stallone showed one of the most memorable villains in cinematic history when he introduced Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. Dolph Lundgren’s iconic performance as the Soviet boxer made him one of the most famous cinematic characters. His breakthrough performance also led him to bag another incredible franchise of Stallone, The Expendables.
However, The Expendables saw significant tension between Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren. At a point, Lundgren even wanted to knock out the Rambo fame and leave his film. If the Ivan Drago star is believed, he was upset after Stallone badly humiliated him in front of many other stars and the international press.
What did Sylvester Stallone do to piss off Dolph Lundgren?
Sylvester Stallone‘s The Expendables started a new action franchise that brought together some of the most remarkable action stars together. Although Expend4bles might have killed the franchise forever, it started very well. However, during the shooting of the first film, the cast and the crew witnessed strong tension between Dolph Lundgren and Sly.
When Lundgren appeared in In Depth with Graham Bensinger, he shared with the host that the Demolition Man star made him cry by humiliating him badly in front of everyone. He explained that Sylvester Stallone was like a family to him as he had both pleasant and bad times with the actor.
“We had some good times and bad times, kinda like family to some degree. He was very harsh on me in a scene in Expendables 1, where he kinda yelled at me in front of the whole crew and had me do about twenty takes on a scene. It was like, ‘My grandmother could do it better than that. What the f*ck, what are you doing?’ You know, basically in front of everybody. And there was press there that day too, international press…”
The situation played out so badly for Dolph Lundgren that he even cried calling his wife- “We took a lunch break and I remember, I was kind of in tears.” He told his wife that if Stallone said something more, he would knock him out and leave the project. However, Sly soon understood the situation and solved everything between him and the Ivan Drago actor.
Is everything alright between Dolph Lundgren and Sylvester Stallone now?
Soon after Dolph Lundgren told his wife about the situation on set, everyone on the set could sense the tension between the two stars. It seems like Sylvester Stallone also understood that he went a bit too much against the Swedish actor as he came and apologized to him:
“I think when I walked on the set, people felt it wasn’t such a good vibration. And then I had a tap on the back and it was Sly. And he was like, ‘Uh, I’m sorry about that. Let’s just do another take and let’s just keep moving on.’”
The Aquaman actor added that the two had a few more run-ins over the years, though he does not -hold a grudge against him. He also shared that he loves and respects the 77-year-old as a good friend- “I think he knows that I’ve always respected him and loved him, and that’s why we’re still friends.”
Lundgren raised numerous headlines when it was revealed that he sent Stallone to the ICU during Rocky IV. It was reported that during a fighting scene, the Rambo star ordered Ivan Drago to forget about the fight choreography and give everything to the shot. Recently, Dolph Lundgren also proved his loyalty to Stallone when he stated that he predicted the result of Expend4bles as the latter’s contribution to the fourth film was minimal.
Rocky IV can be rented on Apple TV+.
