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“He Got a Little Scared So He Stayed Out of It”: Amid Ownership Rights Dispute, Creed Co-Star Details Director’s Reaction to His Confrontation With Sylvester Stallone

Published 05/12/2023, 10:15 AM EDT

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Sylvester Stallone is one of the most iconic figures in Hollywood history. He is famous for his portrayal of the character ‘Rocky Balboa’ in the Rocky franchise and for his work on the spin-off Creed movies. The Rocky franchise has been a staple of Hollywood for over four decades, and the Creed spin-off series has only added to its legacy.

However, it appears that there have been some behind-the-scenes conflicts between ‘Sly’ and co-star Dolph Lundgren, who played the role of ‘Ivan Drago’ in Rocky 4. Moreover, the incident occurred during the filming of Creed 2 where a disagreement between the two took place over a scene’s rewrites.

Dolph Lundgren reveals why he stood up to Sylvester Stallone on the sets of Creed 2

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In a recent interview with Graham Bensinger, the Swedish actor revealed that he disagreed with one of the scenes in the movie. He then added that the original scene was changed and rewritten by Stallone which Lundgren disagreed with.

The film you’re talking about is Creed 2, where I play Ivan Drago again, my character from Rocky 4. There is this scene, which is a wonderful scene in the script, between Rocky and Drago. This scene was over a table, and I loved the scene in the original script because my character finally opens up about what happened to him after Rocky 4. What has he done for these past 40 years? Sly had rewritten this scene. He’s a good writer, and he started rewriting, and I didn’t agree with some of the writing,” he said.

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However, when he confronted Stallone, the director of the movie failed to break the fight which forced the two to settle their dispute by themselves.

Lundgren details how the director of Creed 2 failed to break up the fight

According to Dolph Lundgren’s account, the director of Creed 2, Steven Caple Jr., did not want to get involved in the dispute between Lundgren and Stallone over the script. Lundgren stated that Caple was scared of the two and did not want to meddle in their matters. However, in the end, the disagreement was ultimately resolved through discussion and compromise.

The director was a young guy Steven Caple, but obviously, he didn’t want to get in the fight between me and Sly. So, he got a little scared, so he stayed out of it. It was the first time I stood up to Sly because he’d always been my boss and older brother, and I always deferred to him. But in this case, I didn’t. I stood up to him and stood my ground. Finally, after two hours of rehearsing and arguing, Sly was finally like, ‘Hey, can we shoot this f***ing thing now?’ and I realized I got it my way pretty much,” he added.

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While this may seem like a small conflict, it’s indicative of the larger ownership dispute that has plagued the franchise. Stallone has discussed his frustration with not owning any part of the franchise despite his involvement in nearly every aspect of its creation. Now, only time will tell whether this iconic franchise will move forward without Stallone at its helm.

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What did you think about the confrontation between Stallone and Lundgren? Let us know in the comments below.

Watch This Story: Sylvester Stallone’s Earnings From ‘Rocky’ & ‘Creed’ Movies

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Written by:

Sahil Sood

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Sahil Sood is a Boxing writer at EssentiallySports, who specializes in covering live events and core sports. Sahil holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and has authored over 1300 articles at EssentiallySports. His coverage of Sylvester Stallone's training with Earnie Shavers was widely praised for its depth and insight.
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Edited by:

Shibu Immanuel