Let’s tell the truth: perhaps Dolph Lundgren has a straw tail, because a couple of years ago he began working on a Rocky spin-off titled Drago, and Sylvester Stallone, not consulted, took it very badly. Lundgren knows, however, that he owes a lot to Sly, so he spoke of him in a very affectionate way in his autobiography “Fights Worth Fighting” (literally “Battaglie che vale la pena combattere“). On this occasion he revealed something about their relationship, quite tense during the rehearsals and on the set of Rocky IV, which became immortal precisely thanks to his “Ti spiezzo in due“. And then there was I mercenari…
Dolph Lundgren on Sylvester Stallone: “I care about Sly and I will always care for him”
Rocky IV was not only a huge success, but also the opportunity for Dolph Lundgren to break into the star system: his actual career, even though often in the realm of “b-movies”, began there. Working with Sylvester Stallone, who besides acting in the film was also its director and had written the screenplay, was not easy. Stallone commanded and made it clear: “Even if Sly would arrive late to training one day and not the next, I was late only once and he told me: ‘Now enough. One more time and you’re out!’ Then when we had to mime boxing, I still had to move in close enough with my fists to make it look real. If I stood too far away, Sly would get angry. If I touched him at least a little, he would explode: ‘Do it again, I’ll fire you and replace you with someone else!’
Over the years they didn’t stay in contact, but something changed with The Expendables and Creed II, the result for Lundgren of a chance encounter: “About four years before making The Expendables, I ran into him at Ago Restaurant, this famous trendy trattoria in West Hollywood. We shared a few rounds of tequila, talked about the old times and all of a sudden we were best friends again. […] On set we hugged and it was nice to work together again, 25 years after Rocky IV. […] I really care about Sly and I will always care for him. Whatever there was between us over the years, I still care for him and he knows it, and that’s why our relationship is special. I see him as a truly creative artist with tremendous talent.”
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