What do Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren and Matt Damon have in common? They were all the stars of successful action films. And yet there is a significant difference: while brawn and physical control have always been the main currency for Stallone and Lundgren, Damon, despite four Jason Bourne films (Jeremy Renner took the lead in another), is not primarily a action star, but a four-time Oscar-nominated character actor – and so a little help had to be given to turn the “Oppenheimer” star into a believable and battle-hardened CIA contract killer.
Lundgren, who made his breakthrough in 1985 as Stallone’s opponent in “Rocky IV – The Fight of the Century” and also appeared in “The Punisher” (1989) and all four films in the “The Expendables” series, Op aan aan on the other hand, everything is real: if he gets beaten on camera, he has to record it in real life, and the 1.96 meter tall giant performs most of his stunts himself. It’s not surprising that Lundgren doesn’t have much interest in modern action films!
Dolph Lundgren: “Everything was real with Stallone and me!”
In an interview with the American website Lundgren looked to the successful Jason Bourne franchise to explain what bothers him about today’s action films: “It kind of came with the Bourne series, which required a really good actor who wasn’t much of a fighter.”the 66-year-old said. “The story was perfect for that because it asks the question: How can he be such a good fighter? How can Matt Damon be so deadly? He doesn’t know who he is, so you wonder why he can fight so well.”
What Lundgren is saying: Unlike old-school heroes like him or Sylvester Stallone, you don’t immediately think of Matt Damon as a fighter – which is because he actually isn’t. “To achieve this effect, certain cutting techniques must be used,” Lundgren explains. “But before, when Stallone and I fought in the ring, everything was real. There was only us. There was no one else there. Stallone was actually beaten during the making of the film.
The star of “Universal Soldier” also had a similar conversation with said: “Back then they took someone who could take his shirt off and had real muscles. Nowadays you take someone who has won an Oscar, put him in a suit and he looks like he has muscles.”
Lundgren forgets that, not least, former wrestlers like Dwayne Johnson and Jason Momoa have had steep film careers over the past decade – but in popular Hollywood action cinema, the great days of the old-fashioned muscle men seem to be over for now. “Mission: Impossible 7” and “John Wick 4” recently proved that this doesn’t have to be a bad thing.