Karate has helped me lots, otherwise I might have got lost in substance abuse or something like the things a lot of other people do.
DOLPH LUNDGRENKarate has helped me lots, otherwise I might have got lost in substance abuse or something like the things a lot of other people do.
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 LUNDGRENFilm is about what you are thinking. It’s about what’s inside.
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 LUNDGRENI like the old school heavy metal bands like AC/DC and Aeromith. I like that type of music. As the director, I tried to influence the type of music the bands in the movie would play.
DOLPH LUNDGRENI train about four or five times a week. I guess I am addicted to it. I also do a lot of martial arts. More than I have done in awhile. I like to go back to martial arts because it makes me feel good.
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 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 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 LUNDGRENMy problem is that people get intimidated by someone big and beautiful like me. They hate to think I can be smart as well.
DOLPH LUNDGRENIn the normal life of an actor or director, running around, there’s not much time to go to church. But there’s other ways to be spiritual, too.
DOLPH LUNDGRENMy sensei was a British karate champion named Brian Fitkin. He was my mentor and because I had a hard relationship with my dad, he became a father figure to me.
DOLPH LUNDGRENI like Stallone, because he writes. He sits down with a blank page and comes up with another Rambo movie. That isn’t very easy for anybody. He’s made it successful on top of that.
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 LUNDGRENFirst the movie, the actual playing of the role and trying to deliver what everybody wanted. Then, when the film came out, there was instant fame. I was just a kid from Sweden, I didn’t know what was going on.
DOLPH LUNDGRENWhen I got cast in ‘Rocky IV,’ I had never seen a film camera before. And here I was in this boxing movie.
DOLPH LUNDGREN