Once upon a time, Dolph Lundgren played one of cinema’s most notorious (and notoriously overplayed) villains: Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. It was a truly memorable performance, not only for Lundgren’s imposing physical presence (amplified not by his actual size, but by the contrast of his physique with that of Sylvester Stallone, who is actually on the short side) but for the pervasive over-the-top Reagan-era Cold War caricature of Soviet stereotypes. Lundgren, of course, was entirely new to the film scene in 1985, so Drago was a pretty impressive debut. Lundgren went on to starring roles in Masters of the Universe and Red Scorpion, and then settled into a long string of supporting roles and B movies.

Recently, Lundgren’s career has also taken in interesting turn. Last year, he directed and starred in the straight-to-DVD Missionary Man, about a Bible-toting biker anti-hero, and on February 19, he has a major supporting role in the DVD release The Final Inquiry, which also features the likes of Max Von Sydow and F. Murray Abraham. Released in Italy in 2006, the film is just now making it to the American market via the Fox Faith label.

Past the Popcorn Managing Editor Greg Wright recently had a chance to talk with Lundgren over the phone about developments in his personal faith.

(Image by Carl Lindström and used under the GNU Free Documentation License.)

By: Andy. This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Film, Interview, People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.