Dolph Lundgren Wanted to Punch Sylvester Stallone While Filming The Expendables

According to Variety, the legendary action star spoke with Graham Bensinger on “Deep Down” where he discussed his collaboration with Stallone, dating back to their first on-screen meeting in 1985’s Rocky IV. Although Lundgren admitted that his family friendship with Stallone “had its good times and bad times,” the actor recalled an incident in the original Expendables film in 2010 when he nearly got into a physical altercation with the star and director. “He was really hard on me in a scene in The Expendables where he kind of yelled at me in front of the whole crew and made me do like 20 takes of the scene. It was like, “My grandma could do this better than What the hell are you doing? You know, practically in front of everyone. And there was the press there that day, too, the international press,” Lundgren recalls.

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He continued,

“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 fuck this movie, I’m outta here. I’m just gonna punch him out and fucking leave.’ And 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.”

The incident ultimately did not harm Lundgren and Stallone’s friendship or the film’s box office performance. Released in August 2010, The Expendables delighted action fans by grossing $274 million worldwide. Lundgren reprized his role as Expendables member Gunner Jensen in 2012’s The Expendables 2 and 2014’s The Expendables 3. Additionally, Lundgren reprized his iconic role as an older Ivan Drago opposite Stallone’s Rocky Balboa in 2018’s Creed II.

In July 2022, Lundgren and Stallone’s friendship was tested again when a Drago spinoff project was announced to be in development. Stallone hit back against the spinoff in his ongoing feud with Rocky and Creed franchise producer Irwin Winkler and claimed Lundgren went behind his back to do the project. Lundgren disputed his involvement in Drago and was under the false impression that Stallone was involved.