“When I got cast in ‘Rocky IV,’ I had never seen a film camera before. And here I was in this boxing movie.”

You really have to work hard to create a three-dimensional character. You have to rehearse and explore and take your time. You can’t just memorize your lines and do it on the fly.

You get a bigger paycheck if you are the hero. There is something good about it.

Jebediah Woodley is one of those guys that when I’m sitting in my rocking chair one day, thinking back, I’ll remember that guy. He was a fun guy to play.

When I was a kid, I was like everyone else: afraid of getting nuked. We had drills in school – Sweden was very close to the Soviet Union. There was definitely a lot of tension.

It takes nine months for a baby to develop, it takes nine months to develop a character.

Having bodyguards is just part of being famous, I think.

Stallone is a pretty tough director. You don’t mess with him.

I got good grades in school, but I’m not sure if I’m smart or if it just means I can study. I’ve never taken one of those IQ tests, and I don’t want to. It’s so pointless. As long as you enjoy life and have fun and you’re healthy and happy, that’s what matters.

I suppose I will try to enjoy my life now while I have it. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future?

When you are acting in a film, you have no idea what scene the editor is going to choose. For instance, after you have directed, you feel more comfortable delivering a performance. Because you know the real performance is put together in the editing room.

When I was a teenager, my dad used to put a lot of pressure on me to be successful, and I’d really beat myself up about things like losing martial arts competitions.

I discovered martial arts, first judo and then karate, and I became quite good at it, because I had something to prove. And more than anything, I needed to feel safe.

It was fun to talk too much as Jebediah Woodley, to keep running your mouth whether the other characters want to hear it or not. That’s part of what made this guy fun.

In my career, whether it’s a big or a small movie, when I’ve worked on something for a long time, like [Ivan] Drago in Rocky IV, they start to take on a life of their own.

Because he’s a character who’s looking for his own identity, [He-Man is] an interesting role for an actor.

There are a lot of great athletes who stop working out, and they get out of shape like everybody else in their 30s and 40s.

I don’t use a crap camera, I don’t eat junk, and I’m not going to a dance where the boys are bores.

. You have to make sure you don’t hurt or hit someone. And hit the beats, because they have five cameras

I will never lose anything that an audience will miss

I turned things that were scripted as effects into in-camera stuff, which is sexier.

I thought it would be sexier if it were in-camera cuts. So I did that.

We’re so conditioned to the syntax of the camera that we don’t realize that we are running on only half the visual alphabet…

All those images are being produced basically the same way, through a lens and a camera.

I am semi-ambivalent about being on camera – sort of low-key. I don’t like being on camera stuff that much.