The Rocky franchise is known for its hard fights with tough opponents, and Dolph Lundgren’s character became the cherry on top.
Sylvester Stallone rose to stardom with his breakthrough role as Rocky Balboa in the Rocky franchise. Also, it was one of the very few franchises that pushed him to the edge of the limit when he had to confront his Rocky IV co-star Dolph Lundgren.
Lundgren, a 6′ 5″ Swedish giant played Captain Ivan Drago in Rocky IV and he is one of the best-known opponents of Stallone’s Balboa. However, behind the scenes, Lundgren pushed Stallone straightway to the hospital bed.
Sylvester Stallone Revealed Hardest Punch He Took
Sylvester Stallone came back from the land of the dead after going too far for realism in his movie Rocky IV. The Rocky franchise is best known for the hard fight with at least one significantly rough and tough opponent who is almost unbeatable. In Rocky IV, Dolph Lundgren was roped in for this role. Speaking with Jimmy Fallon in an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Stallone revealed the hardest punch he ever got in his career.
“Dolph Lundgren put me in a hospital for four and a half days. It was unbelievable. I mean really, he hit me so hard in the chest that the next thing I know I was in a low-altitude flight in an intensive care at St. John Hospital surrounded by four nuns,” Stallone said.
However, Lundgren was not at fault as it seems in the very appearance of it.
“All I did was obey orders,” Lundgren said of the punch. “He was the boss. I did what he told me. We came back to L.A. and the producer was like, ‘Hey Dolph, you’ve got two weeks off — Sly’s in the hospital.”
Thankfully, Stallone recovered well but he will never forget the hard punch he took for the sake of cinematic realism.
Sylvester Stallone Initially Hated Dolph Lundgren
Stallone was looking for a formidable guy for his 1985 sports drama and it was so hard for him to find someone to his liking “Let me see if I can relate to you … I wanted in Rocky IV, I really wanted a big, horrible vicious guy, like a primitive, and I couldn’t find him,” Stallone once said, (via CinemaBlend).
“I was finding giant wrestlers and football players, and then all of the sudden, the doors open, smoke comes in, there’s light, there’s the proceeding hairline and shoulders this wide. Everything is perfect. Even his calves were coming through his clothing. He was muscular. He was like the real Terminator, and I go, ‘I hate this friggin’ guy.’ He’s just too perfect, too good-looking. And if I loathe him, I’m sure the world will.”
Further, the action legend added that his physique was unmatched, at least, to anyone he knew. “He’s not really, but he looks like something that’s a thousand years in the future,” he continued, adding, “This is not a guy you see waiting on your table.” Certainly, Lundgren’s character added the necessary flavors the movie needed. Ivan Drago made a mark as one of the most prominent Rocky villains in the entire franchise.