The bizarre clash between Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren during ‘The Expendables’
Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren have been friends dating back to their Rocky IV days, maintaining that bond even in the aftermath of a production schedule that nearly killed the former.
At the writer and director’s urging, the hulking relative newcomer was encouraged to lay in real shots when his Ivan Drago was in the ring with Stallone’s Rocky Balboa, which ended up with the former karate world champion hospitalising the A-list superstar after punching him so hard his heart rebounded inside his chest cavity.
Stallone was genuinely convinced that he might not make it out alive after waking up to find himself surrounded by a cabal of nuns, but they let bygones be bygones and maintained a close bond in the years to come. As a result, when the actor and filmmaker was assembling a team of ageing action heroes for The Expendables, Lundgren was one of the names at the top of his list.
The opening instalment in the action franchise marked Lundgren’s first major film role to secure a theatrical release since 1995, with ill-fated Keanu Reeves cyberpunk flop Johnny Mnemonic inadvertently giving rise to an uninterrupted 15-year stint where his movies would go nowhere but straight to video.
Lundgren was obviously grateful for the opportunity to make a return to the big screen, but The Expendables created brand new friction between the two when the leading man, co-writer, and director ended up pushing his castmate so hard it brought him to tears.
“He was very harsh on me in a scene in The Expendables where he kinda yelled at me in front of the whole crew and had me do about 20 takes on a scene. It was like, ‘My grandmother could do it better than that. What the fuck, what are you doing?'” Lundgren told Graham Bensinger. “You know, basically in front of everybody. And there was press there that day too, international press.”
Rattled by the unexpected tough look, Lundgren tried to collect himself away from the cameras. “I remember I was kind of in tears. I was really upset,” he continued. “I called my wife that time and I basically just told her, ‘If he says one more word, I’m gonna knock him out and fuck this movie, I’m outta here. I’m just gonna punch him out and fucking leave'”.
Fortunately, Stallone would apologise, with the water flowing under the bridge after Lundgren dismissed his opposite number as “a crazy Italian”. They’re still close to this day and even reunited in Creed II outside the confines of The Expendables franchise, so at least the Rocky and Rambo icon made a point of calming down the situation before they started trading fists for real again.
