Sylvester Stallone has no problem absorbing a few blows on-screen. It turns out, though, that one movie almost permanently disabled him. In a retrospective of the famous action film Rocky 4, Stallone recalled how his co-star Dolph Lundgren, beat him so hard that he had to be hospitalized.
Lundgren played Ivan Drago in Rocky 4, which pits Stallone’s character Rocky against Drago in the ring. Stallone, the star and director, told Lundgren that he needed a few blows to truly land in order for their fight to appear as authentic as possible.
Dolph Lundgren Put Sylvester Stallone In The ICU
Stallone said in an earlier interview. “I knew I was in trouble when I showed up and nuns met you at the ICU. Dolph Lundgren put me in the hospital for nine days.”
Stallone made the decision to convince co-star Dolph Lundgren to really try to knock him out in one of their fight scenes after watching the epic battle between middleweight boxers Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns. So, he received what he requested.
“Hey I got an idea, for the first 45 seconds, really try to knock me out, I mean go for it,” Stallone explains. “Bad idea. He comes across—boom, boom! He catches me in the chest. Woah. Cut, cut cut, I am directing so I can do that. CUT CUT. He says, ‘What?’ I said, ‘What? I thought I had a car accident!
“Later that night my blood pressure goes up to 260, I go to the hospital, and they put me in an emergency jet and fly me back to America. Next thing I know I’m in intensive care for five days with nuns walking around.” Stallone continued by saying that the insurance company would not pay until they had seen the incident’s video.
“Look, all I did was obey orders. He was the boss. I did what he told me.” In an interview with the YouTube channel Invicta Fighting Championships, Lundgren recalled the incident and gave an explanation.
Rocky IV is part of the beloved Rocky franchise, in which Stallone plays scrappy boxer, Rocky Balboa.
Sylvester Stallone On Why He ‘hated‘ Dolph Lundgren
Even though the two are now friends, Sylvester Stallone admitted in an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that he initially “hated” the Swedish action hero.
“I hated him,” recalled the Rambo: Last Blood star, describing his first impression of Lundgren. “In Rocky IV I really wanted a big, horrible, vicious guy. I mean, like a primitive. And I couldn’t find him. I’m finding giant wrestlers and football players.”
“He was like the real Terminator, and I go, ‘I hate this friggin’ guy,’” Stallone said. “He’s just too perfect, too good-looking. And if I loathe him, I’m sure the world will.”
“We were very competitive, yeah, I think hate’s a good word. Did you ever hate somebody so much you go, ‘I gotta get to the gym’?” asked Stallone. “I really respect this guy, I think he’s brilliant. What he’s done, what he’s accomplished, he’s had so many different careers. But—I wanted to strangle him.”
The two action stars have a long-standing relationship and have supported one other’s career growth, but it’s impossible to predict how any of those films would have turned out if Lundgren hadn’t been hired just because he intimidated Stallone.