A star of The Expendables reveals that they almost came to blows with Sylvester Stallone on-set. Directed by Stallone, 2010’s The Expendables brought together an all-star team of big-screen action heroes, including such luminaries as Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke and, in an uncredited cameo, Arnold Schwarzenegger. After the film grossed $274 million, an entire Expendables franchise was launched, with sequels coming in 2012 and 2014.
With The Expendables 4 now set to arrive in 2023, series mainstay Dolph Lundgren has shared a story about a time when things became very tense on-set between him and co-star/director Stallone, almost resulting in a physical fight. Check out what Lundgren shared during a recent appearance on In Depth With Graham Bensinger (at around 4:25 of the video below):
"We had some good times and bad times, kinda like family to some degree. 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. It was like, ‘My grandmother could do it better than that. What the f*ck, 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. 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 f*ck this movie, I'm outta here. I'm just gonna punch him out and f*cking leave.’"
"I think when I walked on the set, people felt it wasn't such a good vibration. And then I had a tap on the back and it was Sly. And he was like, ‘Uh, I'm sorry about that. Let's just do another take and let's just keep moving on.’ 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."
Stallone And Lundgren Have A Complicated History Together
Lundgren and Stallone famously first collaborated on the classic Rocky IV, where Lundgren was cast as the hulking bad guy Ivan Drago, who killed Rocky’s friend Apollo Creed in the ring, then matched up against Rocky in a fight that may have ended the Cold War. During the course of filming that movie’s bruising boxing scenes, Lundgren landed a few real blows to Stallone, injuring him enough to put him in the hospital. Hilariously, Lundgren claimed in a 2022 interview that he didn’t remember hurting Stallone, and argued that perhaps the star needed hospitalization because he was overworked. In another interview, Lundgren jokingly claimed Stallone’s hospital trip for Rocky IV was an insurance scam.
Despite being legitimately hurt in the course of working with Lundgren, Stallone later teamed up with the Ivan Drago actor multiple more times, casting him as Gunnar Jensen in The Expendables series, then squaring off against him again – though not in the ring – in a Rocky/Drago reunion for Creed II. It’s yet to be seen whether Drago and Rocky will ever face off again, but there has been talk of a Creed spinoff starring Viktor Drago, so perhaps it’s possible, though Stallone’s ongoing beef with Rocky series producer Irwin Winkler would seem to be a major impediment standing in the way of his ever returning to the Rocky fold. In the meantime, Lundgren and Stallone continue their contentious relationship as stars of The Expendables series, with the pair set to reunite in The Expendables 4.
Source: In Depth With Graham Bensinger/YouTube
