Cinema Junkie
BONUS Cinema Junkie speaks with Dolph Lundgren
TRT 17:00
Note: This is an automated transcript and may contain inaccuracies.
CLIP If he dies he dies…
BETH ACCOMANDO All right you all probably know Dolph Lundgren from his 80s action films or his recent Expendables appearance but did you also know he speaks multiple languages, holds a masters degree in chemical engineering, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to MIT, and is a skilled martial artist who won multiple European championships.
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BETH ACCOMANDO Welcome back to listener supported KPBS Cinema Junkie, I'm Beth Accomando.
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BETH ACCOMANDO Today I get to share my interview with one of my favorite action movie stars Dolph Lundgren. A documentary – Dolph Unbreakable-- about him just debuted streaming. I wish Hollywood had embraced him more and given him more and better leading roles. But the towering Swede still made a major impact on action films of the the 80s and 90s. But he never intended to be an actor. While still in school he took a side gig working security which led to him meeting stunning singer, model and actress Grace Jones. The two eventually struck up a relationship. Then 1985, Jones was cast as the muscle to Christopher Walken’s villain in the Bond film A View to a Kill….
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CLIP May Day will get you a drink…
BETH ACCOMANDO And that led to Lundgren getting his first film role. But his second film, Rocky IV, also released in 1985, is what shot him to fame. He played the brutal Soviet boxer Ivan Drago opposite Sylvester Stallone’s underdog Rocky Balboa…
CLIP I must break you
BETH ACCOMANDO Lundgren worked hard for that film as we discover in the documentary.
CLIP I was in LA for 6 months prior to shooting…
BETH ACCOMANDO After Rocky IV, Lundgren would go on to play such iconic characters as He-Man in Masters of the Universe…
CLIP I have the power
BETH ACCOMANDO And the Marvel character Frank Castle in the first film adaptation of The Punisher.
CLIP Com’on God, where is justice, where is punishment… Here in me.
BETH ACCOMANDO In 2015 he opened up about himself for a TedX Talk on healing and forgiveness…
CLIP I like to tell you a story about a little boy who grew up in Sweden…I think I remember the first time my dad hit me …
BETH ACCOMANDO Dolph Lundgren opens up about more of his life and career in the the new documentary Dolph Unbreakable.
TRAILER Dolph: Unbreakable
I began my interview with Dolph Lundgren by asking how this documentary Dolph Unbreakable come about? What made him feel like he wanted to partake in something like this at this particular time in his career.
DOLPH LUNDGREN
Yeah, I was approached by these documentary filmmakers. Let's see, it's 7 years ago, no, 6 years ago now. It was right before COVID We started shooting, COVID came in. But, you know, look, so 6 years ago I was 61, 62. And you get a certain age where you kind of, you know, it's natural to look back at your life and, and, you know, being an actor, you know, you're always on film anyway. So why not do a documentary? I didn't realize it was going to take 6 years and be a lot. I had to come in as a producer and recut it and rework it. And I was going to get a cancer diagnosis and that was going to change everything. I, I didn't know any of that, but I did. feel like I wanted to share myself, which I've done in 100-some movies, share myself with my, uh, fans and the public.
BETH ACCOMANDO
And is there something about yourself that maybe people don't know that you hope they take away from this documentary?
DOLPH LUNDGREN
Um, well, there, there's some things that a lot of people don't know about my education, about martial arts, about perhaps my private life. Cancer, may have heard about it, maybe not. I guess the fact that I'm more of a spiritual person, maybe more of a searcher, a different kind of person than my characters that I play on screen. My characters are usually kind of tough men, stoic, You know, carry some kind of weapon usually, and they're involved in some action, you know, situation. Whereas, of course, as a person, I'm a little more of a searcher, I guess.
BETH ACCOMANDO
And did you feel that going through this documentary, after also having gone through cancer treatment and all this, was it somehow therapeutic also?
DOLPH LUNDGREN
It was very therapeutic. I also had a book offer and I was writing an autobiography as well. So I had 2 things I was juggling. The book just came out actually. And so I was juggling both and they're both autobiographical, they're both therapeutic. You know, the documentary is, you know, in many ways because the interviews the fact that I have to rewatch medical footage and me getting treatments and stuff, which, you know, it was almost unreal to see it, you know, after the fact. In the book, you're, you know, it's a little different medium. You're sitting there. It's more the author's medium. You're sitting there and you're trying to put down a few sentences to describe something, you know, and you have to— so it can be more concise than when you speak. So So they were both therapeutic, and I'm really glad I did both of them, really.
BETH ACCOMANDO
One of the things that I didn't know about and I thought was interesting is you talked about meeting Andy Warhol, and I was just curious what kind of an experience that was because you were pretty young when that happened and he's such an iconic figure. So what do you remember of that?
DOLPH LUNDGREN
Well, a few things. The first time I met him, I was in a club with Grace and she ran off somewhere. I was 26, I guess, 27. Some little guy with a camera comes up and walks up to me and says, I want to take a picture. Then he says, what are you famous for? I remember I said, nothing as far as I know. He's like, well, I'll put you in my magazine. Then Grace shows up Hi, Andy. And it was Andy Warhol. Of course, I knew who he was. I didn't recognize him, but then I got to meet him many times at the Factory. Grace was up there doing— he was doing portraits of her for Interview magazine. We also did a feature together for Interview, so he was there for that. And he was just a very nice, down-to-earth guy, very smart. I I used to walk around in the back of the factory because, you know, Grace was doing other things. He was photographing her or something. And I always saw these— he had all this artwork back, all these artworks back there that he— it was like a storage area. And I remember one thing I saw. I haven't seen it since, but it was— I guess he must have been in Germany, in Bavaria or something, at a dinner like in the '60s. And he He took the, the table when it was— when the meal was done. I guess he must have— I don't know how he did it, but it was— the whole table was just— it was, it was, um, encapsulated in plastic, plastic. And it was— he sucked all the air out of it. So the food was there already, and then the, the bills was there, and any, you know, the ashtrays. And he just cut it into squares like there's— He had about 10 of those squares and he signed it Andy Warhol, right? So, and I just remember as a kid, I thought, wow, that's pretty smart. Like, you know, I understood already that people would buy that because it's like you kind of stop time and the receipt had the date on it. Anyway, so, and then I was a bit— and then I was saddened It was only a few years later where Grace called me and said Andy passed away. And I think he was only in his late 40s or something, and he— when he died, maybe early 50s. And he went in for some routine surgery and died, uh, like '80, maybe 1989 or something like that. And Grace went to the funeral, but I was— we'd broken up by then. I was in California. But I remember I was, um, Yeah, it was a sad day. I remember that because I liked him a lot.
BETH ACCOMANDO
You mentioned your education that people may not know about, but I have to say, when my son was a surly teenager, we got to bond over your action films, which he loved. And he was very impressed that he found out that you had like a PhD, you spoke multiple languages, you really knew martial arts. And I promised I would ask to find out if this was true or not, but he said he read that somebody broke into your house And as soon as they saw the picture of you, left. I'm wondering if that actually is true.
DOLPH LUNDGREN
It's partially true. Yeah, I was in Spain. I had a house. I lived in Spain for— I was married, lived in Spain for a number of years. And yeah, I was gone on a film set and these guys in ski masks break in and they— yeah, and they put all the staff somewhere and my kids were there and One of my daughters was asleep. But anyway, they opened the safes and then, well, they saw the picture and they said something in Spanish, like bad Spanish. I think they were from Eastern Europe. Oh, we're big fans of this guy. And they had the He-Man sword. They played with it. And then they said to my wife, okay, you can have a few things back. And they— she picked a watch and she took some, some of the jewelry back that they were going to steal. And then they left anyway. So it was a certain, uh, I got a little mileage out of it. And I do send some other guys down to find these guys, but they were gone.
BETH ACCOMANDO
Well, one of the films that we watch every year of yours is I Come in Peace because it's part of our 12 Days of Action Christmas. So I'm wondering if you have any memories of that particular film.
DOLPH LUNDGREN
You know, I have really fond memories of that picture. It was shot in Houston, Texas. He had this really great script. I think it was the first script. This writer, David Koepp, he wrote Jurassic Park and Mission: Impossible, some huge movies. He wrote this when he was really young and it was a kind of a far-out script about an alien drug dealer who comes to Earth. followed by an alien cop. This drug dealer is trying to— he's harvesting opiates out of human brains so he kills people and sticks something in their head. Then this alien cop comes along to catch him and the cop gets killed and then I play this human cop who has to take over and find this guy. He says— the alien speaks in this weird kind of voice, Every time he's about to kill somebody he says, I come in peace, for some reason. I guess somebody smoked a lot of weed or something and came up with the story. In the original the alien wears this black cowboy outfit like Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven. I don't know how he came up with that but I think the producers thought it's a little too much so they dressed him as an alien. I like that movie, it had great practical stunts. A lot of explosions, it's all practical. We had this East German Olympic champion who plays the alien and he had to do all these stunts himself because you couldn't double him, he was too big. There's one stunt when he runs, he jumps from one car to the next, 10 cars in a row while these explosives chase him. And I remember watching that— guy's gonna get killed. We all thought this guy's never gonna make it, and he decided to do it himself, and he pulled it off somehow. So it's, it's a fantastic movie. I like it a lot.
BETH ACCOMANDO
And do you still enjoy acting? Do you have other projects coming up right now? Is that still something that you want to keep pursuing?
DOLPH LUNDGREN
Yeah, I like it a lot. Actually, I took a break because I have this vodka company I started with my wife. I had to take over as CEO. It was a lot of work last year or so. And so now I'm getting back into acting. I have a movie I'm doing in November. I have another one I'm looking at, another script that's kind of a fun script, actually. I don't know if it'll work out, but it has some really, really cool directors on it. And I have 2 other projects I'm developing as a producer. One, I would be— I'll be acting in one of them. But no, I'm excited. It's the movie business and acting seemed quite kind of— it was a bit of a vacation as opposed to running a— being an entrepreneur and running a startup. That's a lot of work. So I'd like to get back into acting. And I think I, you know, now when I get a bit older, I can Gives the character something else that I didn't have before when I was younger, you know.
BETH ACCOMANDO
All right, well, I want to thank you very much for speaking with me.
DOLPH LUNDGREN
Thank you. Nice talking to you, Beth.
BETH ACCOMANDO
That was my interview with actor and filmmaker Dolph Lundgren .
The new documentary Dolph Unbreakable is now available VOD on all cable systems and for rent or purchase from all leading digital outlets including iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. His autobiography Fights Worth Fighting: Finding Strength in Struggle came out last month.
That wraps up another edition of KPBS listener supported Cinema Junkie. If you enjoy the podcast, then please share it with a friend because your recommendation is the best way to build an addicted audience. You can also help by leaving a review.
Till our next film fix, I’m Beth Accomando your resident Cinema Junkie.
