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Rocky 4was the first time that audiences got to see the beloved and iconic character of Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren. Even though this film was his entry into the franchise, he easily became one of the most iconic parts of the series, and a very big reason for that has to be Lundgren’s acting as the character.
The actor put a lot into this role, even going method to a certain degree and fully becoming Drago. While this was excellent for his performance in the film, it did not help him very much in real life. It would seem that the actor’s dedication to the role caused him to have some tension with his co-star, Carl Weathers.
Dolph Lundgren’s Audition Was Iconic
WhenDolph Lundgrenwas auditioning for the role of Ivan Drago, he had quite a lot of competition. TheRockyfranchise was at its peak at the time, which meant that the audition process for the main antagonist of the fourth film would be very high.
With this, there was also the additional factor that Lundgren was auditioning for the role of a Russian boxer when he was actually a Swedish-American actor. It is safe to assume that he had the odds stacked against him. During an interview withScreenCrush, Lundgren revealed that he ended up taking inspiration from Soviet cadets, which made his version of the character stand out in the eyes ofSylvester Stallone.
For the the screen test I had to do to get the part, I decided to keep him very still, because I had seen pictures of these Soviet cadets where they always stand chin up like this.
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Lundgren was competing with two other actors, who were both Russian and very loud. Rather than opting for a similar approach in his acting, he decided to learn what he did from the Soviet cadets. Rather than being verbally threatening, the actor opted to let himself be quietly threatening.
There were three guys left for the screen test: Two Russians and me. And the other two Russians were yelling like a Russian Mr. T. ‘I must break you! I will kick your a***!’ Very loud — and then I cam on, [quietly] ‘My name is Drago.’ And of course, Sly is not stupid, he saw that was good.
He kept his cool throughout his entire audition and managed to impress Stallone enough that he got the role.
Dolph Lundgren Went Full Method
After getting the job, Dolph Lundgren did not reduce his dedication to the role. In fact, he ended up upping his performance and being in character throughout his entire time on the set. One can imagine that this wasn’t a very pleasant time for his co-stars, including Sylvester Stallone, whose character was directly opposite to Drago’s.
Considering the fact that they were playing competing characters, it is safe to assume that he was getting the brunt of Lundgren’s method of acting. However, his style was more focused on standoffish acting rather than conventionally rude behavior. Since it was helping him deliver an excellent performance, Stallone did not seem to mind that they were not close outside of character.
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However, there was one actor who was unsurprisingly confused by Lundgren’s behavior. Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago don’t have the best on-screen relationship, considering the former is killed by the latter. However, it would seem that this dynamic brought tension to Lundgren’s dynamic withCarl Weathersin real life as well, as he revealed during an interview withScreenRant.
I was in character a lot around the ring, so I was always Drago. I was walking around like him. In the beginning, we didn’t talk much. There was a little bit of tension there, and then of course in the fight, I ended up beating him up pretty badly. I didn’t really get to know him that well.
While this was the case during the filming of the project, things changed drastically between Lundgren and the late actor. They ended up getting much closer when they were attending conventions and became good friends afterward.
Rocky 4is available for streaming on Prime Video.
Ananya Godboley
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2219
Ananya Godboley is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows, with over 2,000 articles published. She has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years. Currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in psychology from K.R. Mangalam University, Ananya also likes to fangirl as a full-time job. She covers news and analyses on anything from Rick and Morty to Hannibal and even Arcane. In between these lines, she also enjoys superheroes and Taylor Swift.A philosophy enthusiast, Ananya enjoys digging deeper into the media she consumes, trying to understand the root of her favorite characters' behavior.
