Dolph Lundgren is looking back at one of the most famous behind-the-scenes moments from \u201cRocky IV.\u201d<\/p>\n
He recently confessed he still feels guilty for breaking\u00a0Sylvester Stallone\u2019s ribs during their legendary fight scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The action star was candid when asked during an appearance on \u201cFOX & Friends\u201d if he felt responsible for the accident, which happened during one of the film\u2019s most brutal sequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know it happened, we were both getting hit in that fight,\u201d Lundgren said. \u201cWe shot for two weeks in Vancouver, and I got back to LA \u2026 the producer called and said, \u2018Hey, Dolph, you got two weeks off.\u2019 I said, \u2018That\u2019s great, what\u2019s going on?\u2019 \u2018Sly\u2019s in the hospital.\u2019 I found out that way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lundgren, who played the Russian powerhouse Ivan Drago, admitted the news took him by surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did feel a little guilty, you know, he hit me too. He was the boss, I did what he told me, which was good. Go really hard with the body, you know those Russian uppercuts. I don\u2019t know if it was my body or exhaustion or my punches, I don\u2019t know, but he did get hurt. I\u2019m sorry about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sylvester Stallone punches Dolph Lundgren during a scene from \u201cRocky IV.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n
Dolph Lundgren attends the 43rd Torino Film Festival in Italy on Nov. 22, 2025. Davide Di Lalla\/SOPA Images\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Before stepping into the role of Ivan Drago, Lundgren was following a very different path \u2014 one rooted in academics and engineering.<\/p>\n
He was a Fulbright Scholar studying at MIT.<\/p>\n
But his\u00a0path to stardom\u00a0took a turn when he crossed paths with some of New York\u2019s biggest names.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lundgren explained how his career started with a chance encounter that led him to Hollywood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in\u00a0New York, and I went out with this singer. I ended up going to [Studio] 54, meeting Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson and a few other people. I did some modeling, and then somebody said, \u2018You should try acting,\u2019 because I was a karate champion in Europe,\u201d Lundgren continued to share on \u201cFOX & Friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lundgren recently confessed he still feels guilty for breaking Stallone\u2019s ribs during their legendary fight scene.\u00a0 Amazon MGM Studios<\/p>\n
Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren during the world premiere of \u201cRocky Balboa\u201d in Hollywood, California. WireImage for MGM<\/p>\n
The Swedish-born actor landed his first big role in \u201cRocky IV\u201d and quickly cemented his place in the action-movie pantheon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd one film I went up for was a boxing movie, it turned out to be \u2018Rocky IV.\u2019 I moved to Hollywood, I met Sly, and got that part and the rest was history. It\u2019s been like 95 films since, it has been a great ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite a career that spans nearly 100 films, Lundgren told \u201cFOX & Friends\u201d his favorite role to date was revisiting Ivan Drago in \u201cCreed II.\u201d<\/p>\n
The film allowed him to explore a new side of his character in a father-son dynamic with Viktor Drago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like \u2018Creed II\u2019 actually,\u201d Lundgren said. \u201cI got a chance to play that character again \u2014 an older version, kind of a father-son relationship. I like that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
From screen fights to spirits, Lundgren recently launched his brand,\u00a0Hard Cut Vodka.<\/p>\n
The actor-turned-entrepreneur said he was inspired to create\u00a0his own vodka\u00a0after years of dissatisfaction with what was on the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years back, I couldn\u2019t find a vodka I liked, so my wife said, \u2018You should make your own \u2014 you\u2019re a chemical engineer. You\u2019ve played a Russian a few times, you\u2019re from Sweden.\u2019 I started that journey, and now here we are,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dolph Lundgren is looking back at one of the most famous behind-the-scenes moments from \u201cRocky IV.\u201d He recently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[1508,151507,142805,88,206,11260,53559],"class_list":{"0":"post-316477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-actors","9":"tag-celebrity-injuries","10":"tag-dolph-lundgren","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-rocky","14":"tag-sylvester-stallone"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}