The Expendables 4 star Dolph Lundgren recalls an extended prank pulled on him by Sylvester Stallone on the set of the first film in the franchise. Lundgren plays Gunner Jensen in the action-heavy The Expendables franchise created by Stallone, which focuses on a group of aging mercenaries taking on violent jobs around the world, regardless of consequences. The series was meant to revitalize the action movies (and stars) of the 80s and 90s, bringing in a slew of talent from that era, including Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson, and many more.
Lundgren has starred in the last three The Expendables films and will return for The Expendables 4, which also brings back franchise stars Stallone, Jason Statham, and Randy Couture, while adding new franchise stars like Iko Uwais, 50 Cent, Tony Jaa, and Andy Garcia. Each of the films in the franchise has had a different director at the helm, with Stallone directing the freshman effort, Simon West (Con Air) on The Expendables 2, Patrick Hughes (The Hitman's Bodyguard) on The Expendables 3, and now Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) for The Expendables 4.
In a new interview with Looper, Lundgren talks about being in The Expendables franchise and recounts a long-running prank pulled by Stallone on the set of the first film. The prank began on set for the opening scene of the film, which takes place on a barge that has been hijacked by pirates. Lundgren's Gunner shoots a pirate with a grenade launcher, making a joke afterward, which then prompts more shooting and an end to the pirates' attempted blackmail. But, there was more going on behind the scenes of the sequence, as Stallone had a joke played out all the way to post-production. Lundgren explains:
"On the first one, there is the first scene of the movie. It was great to work with Sly again, because I worked on setting it out in the first scene in the movie. I'm telling this joke that he wrote, of course, and then I show up, and I blow this pirate away. So tell him this joke. And try like four or five takes and Sly is like [goes into a perfectly nuanced Sylvester Stallone impersonation] "Do the joke." Finally, 15 takes. This is driving me crazy. I could kill this guy. Embarrassing. He was like, "OK." Fine. I got over it. And then I show up for ADR — where you do like a little voice replacement. So it's first up, and Sly is like [does impersonation again] "Guess which take?" And it was the first one the whole time."
Lundgren recently praised Stallone's recut version of Rocky IV, which was Lundgren's first major role in a film, playing Rocky's opponent, Ivan Drago. Lundgren's career took off afterward, starring in all manner of genre films for decades, which he continues to do to this day. Lundgren recently returned to the role of Drago for the Rocky spinoff film Creed II and there have been rumors of Drago potentially getting his own spinoff series.
Both Lundgren and Stallone are old hands at making movies and it makes sense that there would be some pranks along the way. The actors have become close friends throughout the years and continued to create the types of films that made their careers while dabbling in other genres from time to time. The Expendables franchise is like a time portal for these legendary action stars and it's nice to see them doing what they do best in the genre that's defined them, even if they play some jokes on each other along the way. Both Stallone and Lundgren will be back for The Expendables 4 in 2022.
Source: Looper