The Expendables

Dolph Lundgren Interview

	These Japanese fighters didn’t realise it was a movie, and tried to take my head off. It was a good thing I knew the Japanese for STOP!

Do you find it ironic that the youngest Expendable is the only one who’s losing his hair, while everyone else in the film has got boyband haircuts?
You mean Jason Statham? Haha. Well, I don’t know if he’s losing it or if it’s just cut short. I had the most hair, it was the longest it’d been for a while, but that’s because my character’s a drug addict or a drunk, and doesn’t care about anything.

True. So how do action heroes manage to make long-haired mullets look cool while everyone else looks like IT geeks or darts players?
In the old days, warriors used to have long hair. The power was in the hair, now it’s the opposite. But I think it looks cool, I like long hair.

Is it true you hospitalised Stallone during Rocky IV, and did you hurt him again in The Expendables?
Well, he got sick after we filmed the end fight in Rocky IV and he had to go hospital, so that might’ve been my doing. In The Expendables, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin threw him on his head and injured his vertebrae. I was too busy beating up Jet Li to hurt Sly in this one.

Did you ever hear Sly Stallone ever say ‘aw man, I’m too old for this shit’ on set?
Yeah, yeah, he said that a lot. But he does it [make action films] anyway!

I grew up believing that Steven Seagal punches so hard, the sheer force of the wind is enough to knock someone over. Please tell me this is true.
In karate, I practised the speed of my punch by putting a candle out with the wind from your fist, but I never heard about knocking a person over. I don’t think that’s true!

I’m planning a Dolph Lundgren night with some chums, and have bought five Dolph films from Amazon. Please can you give a short intro to each of these films…
Sure!

Showdown in Little Tokyo…
It was great working with Brandon Lee [Bruce Lee’s son]. This was a typical ‘80s action movie [despite being made in 1991!] with all the ingredients - the yakuza, the one-liners, the swordfights, the hot-tub scenes, the naked chicks, the sushi restaurants - everything!

The Punisher…
This had some Japanese fighters in it who didn’t realise it was a movie, and thought they’d come for a real fight, and tried to take my head off. I had to tell them every time ‘STOP! It’s not a real fight!’ It’s a good thing I know a bit of Japanese other wise I’d still be in pain.

Red Scorpion…
A crazy four-month shoot in Africa that drove me nuts! There was apartheid at the time, we had financing problems, and floods washed away our bridges. I also did this crazy stunt where I jumped from a motorcycle to a truck at high speed. I could’ve got killed. I was stupid.

Dark Angel
I like it. I think it’s underrated. Of a lot of films I made, some are very forgettable, but that one’s pretty good!

The Peacekeeper…
I think I hurt my back. They had to prop me up with a gun to say my lines. Then they laid me back down afterwards because I’d pulled something. Yeah, I remember that!