“As a hero, you have to play it straight. The audience is going to live through you, so you have to be more neutral. They will be projecting their thoughts and their actions onto the main character.”

You 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.

I try to keep the martial arts up. It’s a good thing, not just physically but also for your mind.

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.