Dolph Lundgren On Going 15 Rounds With Sylvester Stallone For Rocky IV

And to think, the Russian wrecking machine was almost played by Patrick Swayze!

What have Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Kurt Russell, Patrick Swayze, John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Liam Neeson, Val Kilmer, Mel Gibson, Matt Dillon, Jesse Ventura and ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper got in common? That’s right, they all auditioned for the role of Rocky IV’s Soviet superman Ivan Drago.

All of which begs another question – why, having run the rule over pretty much everyone in the known world, did writer-director-star Sylvester Stallone end up plumping for some Swedish bloke called Dolph Lundgren? Ask the man himself and he struggles for an answer.

“I really don’t know. I think that after the success of Mr T’s Clubber Lang character in Rocky III, Sly was under a lot of pressure to up the stakes for the fourth movie. I can only imagine that’s why he met with so many big stars. Then maybe he decided that an unknown was the way to go. That might explain how I got cast because I was completely unknown at the time!”