The very aura of Dolph Lundgren has the traits of masculinity. The 6.43 feet actor has appeared in several action movies but his collaborations with Sylvester Stallone were memorable. Lundgren is a tough guy and he can be aggressive whenever the director wants.
Starring alongside Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers, Lundgren almost dominated the movie. Several instances happened behind the scenes involving the Masters of the Universe actor and they were bad news.
Carl Weathers Got Some Real Punches From Dolph Lundgren
Swedish hunk Dolph Lundgren played Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. And it appears, Lundgren was the perfect fit for the role with the strength and power he held under his sleeves. Lundgren was, however, pretty intense as he hurt the Star Wars and Predator actor Carl Weathers pretty badly. Of course, it was the director’s call to make the scenes look real. Weathers’ character Apollo Creed returned to the franchise coming out of retirement for a face-off with Punisher Ivan Drago, however, Weathers ended up getting some real punches. Weathers was pretty upset with Lundgren’s aggressiveness and threatened to leave the movie.
“I saw Dolph Lundgren pick up Carl [Weathers] and heave him three feet into the corner when I was directing the scene between them; rather than retaliate, Carl got out of the ring and said something ferocious like, ‘I’m calling my agent… I quit!'” Sylvester Stallone once said.
But for Lundgren, he never had hard feelings against Weathers. “I like Carl,” Lundgren said. But “I’d worked out with Sly for five months before the picture. So I knew him pretty well,” he continued. Lundgren further stated that the Happy Gilmore actor got a little scared of Lundgren’s appearance. “I was a fighter, a karate champion from Europe and I think when Carl showed up, he was like, ‘I’m gonna have to fight this guy? He seems like he’s the real thing.’” Lundgren also said that he did not dislike anybody on that set.
Dolph Lundgren’s Hard-Hitting Punches Put Sylvester Stallone in Hospital
Weathers was not the only victim of Lundgren’s Drago, Sylvester Stallone got some intense punches as well. The 1985 movie spiced with traces of the Cold War has endured a lot of behind-the-scenes trauma. Lundgren put Stallone in the hospital bed with intensive care for eight days. Lundgren’s punches caused Stallone’s heart to swell and he had trouble breathing while the blood pressure spiked. “This was back in the day when you didn’t have CGI, so everything you did had to be in-camera,” Lundgren said in a 2014 Role Recall interview. And “if you wanted blood to come out of your mouth, you had to actually put it in your mouth and spit it out as you got hit,” he explained.
“So Sly decided to do some more realistic boxing scenes where I hit a little harder in the body.” After they wrapped the sequence in Vancouver, Lundgren was back in Los Angeles when he got word that Stallone was in the hospital and production was shutting down for two weeks. They say it was my fault but he got hurt.”
Stallone prepared his Rocky Balboa for the completion of the movie anyway but he would never forget how hard Lundgren went. Written and directed by Stallone, the movie went on to earn over $300 million at the box office. Lundgren and Stallon reunited in The Expendables franchise.
Source: Yahoo.
