United Artists / courtesy Everett
Sylvester Stallone reflects on the making of his 1985 film Rocky IV in a new documentary.
The actor, 75, has released The Making of Rocky vs. Drago by Sylvester Stallone on his YouTube channel, where he recalled his first day filming a fight scene with Dolph Lundgren, who portrayed Rocky’s main rival Ivan Drago in the sequel.
Stallone described his first film day with Lundgren and said: “The first thing we recorded [was] my entrance, his entrance and the introductions, and then I got really injured during the fight and I had to fly in the intensive care unit to California from Canada. “
Stallone said he had encouraged Lundgren, an actor and martial arts artist, to show his “dominance” in the scene against Rocky.
“Well, he pulverized me,” Stallone said. “And I did not feel it at the moment, but later in the evening my heart started to swell. My blood pressure rose to 260 and I had to talk to angels. The next thing I know is that I’m in this emergency, low – “I’m in the intensive care unit surrounded by nuns, and then after that, I had to go back and finish the fight.”
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Stallone said he stayed in the intensive care unit for four days before returning to film the final fight in the film. He also revealed that Lundgren’s blow to his chest is “what’s in the original film.”
“How could you remove it?” he said in the documentary.
Stallone urged fans to watch the documentary in an Instagram post on Tuesday, writing in the caption: “If you have not seen this documentary, you should. If you really want to know what’s going on in the minds of filmmakers, what really creates it’s amazing pictures, and hopefully the excitement…. So watch this documentary, I think it’s the best ever made on the subject because you want to be there right now. # YOUTUBE.COM / SLYSTALLONESHOP. “
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The actor created Rocky franchise and has starred in eight films within the franchise. The next ninth part, Confession III, starring Michael B. Jordan, will not feature Stallone, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter.
Stallone is working hard to make a fourth Consumer goods film (which Lundgren must also be a part of) and one Demolition man sequel, which he unveiled in May 2020 during an Instagram Live Q&A.
“We’re working on it right now with Warner Bros. and it looks great,” Stallone said at the time. “So it should come out. It’s going to happen.”
