It takes nine months for a baby to develop, it takes nine months to develop a character.
DOLPH LUNDGRENIt takes nine months for a baby to develop, it takes nine months to develop a character.
DOLPH LUNDGRENUnless you’re playing a real character based on a real person, if someone else has done it before, you’re probably better off not watching it as an actor. Otherwise you end up trying to copy someone else.
DOLPH LUNDGRENYou realize as a director that when you are cutting a film, you want to have alternatives. You need color and choices. You don’t want four takes that are identical.
DOLPH LUNDGRENWhen 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.
DOLPH LUNDGRENI think the energy I give off is quite non-confrontational. That’s something you learn from karate. Once you try to be a tough guy, you’ve got to pay up. You’ve got to prove yourself. And that’s exhausting.
DOLPH LUNDGRENYou get a bigger paycheck if you are the hero. There is something good about it.
DOLPH LUNDGRENYou can’t give someone five hundred punches in a film anymore. You beat on them, and they continue to stand there staring at you. That doesn’t work. People just don’t buy that anymore.
DOLPH LUNDGRENI 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.
DOLPH LUNDGRENIt 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.
DOLPH LUNDGRENI’ve never had a good line. Well, maybe ‘I must break you’.
DOLPH LUNDGRENI prefer to channel my problems and inner demons through a character. Another persona. That protects me and my family. I can get my frustrations out that way.
DOLPH LUNDGRENI mean there’s still also an element of the audience looking for role models. In my day, when I started, if you were an action hero, you were a little bit of a role model like the person.
DOLPH LUNDGRENI try to keep the martial arts up. It’s a good thing, not just physically but also for your mind.
DOLPH LUNDGRENWhen 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.
DOLPH LUNDGRENYou 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.
DOLPH LUNDGRENWhen 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.
DOLPH LUNDGREN