Dolph Lundgren is looking back on a time when he wanted to “punch out” his co-star Sylvester Stallone.
While appearing on a new episode of “In Depth with Graham Bensinger”, the Swedish actor, 65, recalled a tense interaction with Stallone, 76, on set of their 2010 film “The Expendables”.
“We had some good times and bad times, kinda like family to some degree,” Lundgren said of Stallone, whom he’d worked with previously on 1985’s “Rocky IV” and then again on the “Expendables” sequels (2012, 2014), followed by 2018’s “Creed II”.
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“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 20 takes on a scene,” Lundgren claimed. “It was like, ‘My grandmother could do it better than that. What the f**k, what are you doing?’ You know, basically in front of everybody. And there was press there that day too, international press.
“We took a lunch break and I remember, I was kind of in tears. I was really upset,” he revealed on the syndicated interview program. “I called my wife at the time [Anette Qviberg], and I basically just told her, ‘If he says one more word, I’m gonna knock him out, and f**k this movie, I’m outta here. I’m just gonna punch him out and f**king leave.'”
When Lundgren returned to set, he noted that, “people felt it wasn’t such a good vibration.”
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“Then I had a tap on the back and it was Sly. He was like, ‘Uh, I’m sorry about that. Let’s just do another take and let’s just keep moving on,'” he continued. “And we’ve had a few run-ins over the years, but what can I say, he’s a crazy Italian. I think he knows that I’ve always respected him and loved him, and I think that’s why we’re still friends.”
In “Rocky IV”, Lundgren, who played rival Ivan Drago opposite Stallone’s Rocky Balboa, had the opportunity to take a real swing at his co-star, only because Stallone instructed him to.
In a 2019 Q&A, Stallone confessed that he told Lundgren, “Why don’t we just do it? Just try to knock me out. Really cut loose as hard as you can,” while directing their fight sequence.
“Next thing I know, I’m on a low-altitude plane to the emergency room, and I’m in intensive care for four days,” he revealed.
In a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lundgren joked that he was just “obeying orders.”
“[Stallone] was the boss. I did what he told me.”
Elsewhere during Lundgren’s appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger”, he revealed a private 8-year battle with cancer and opened up about his relationship with fiancée Emma Krokdal.
