Editorial Staff
For the first time since Rocky’s burning heart caught on fire and remodeled his face at the end of “Rocky IV”, Russian heavyweight Ivan Drago returns to the ‘Rocky’ series – or rather, “Creed” series – to face the greatest opponent he’s ever known.
With “Creed 2”, which sees Dolph Lundgren’s Drago returning to the screen for the first time since 1985, out in just a few short weeks, the cast are out spruiking the flick to reporters – and understandably, many seem keen to get some choice quotes out of the film’s returning villain.
Empire caught up with the “Expendables” and “Dark Angel” actor to get the low-down on how the iconic villain has changed since we last saw him.
“Basically, my character has been in a living hell since ’85 and lost everything,” he explains. “The script reintroduces him as a pretty damaged character, emotionally, and somebody who’s suffered a lot physically from a hard life. I can identify with that quite easily. The physical part [and] the emotional part.”
Lundgren says the character has loomed over his entire character but he never before had a reason to return to it.
“It’s become an iconic character,” he reasons. “People quote him and have T-shirts. I didn’t want to mess with that image. I didn’t see a way, up until now, that it would work. But obviously now when I’m old enough, suddenly I work as a parent. The father-son concept was quite good because I had a violent relationship with my dad […] many men do and end up in contact sports.”
“Creed 2” opens November 21.
