Dolph Lundgren has spoken out and is standing in Sylvester Stallone’s corner over the upcoming “Rocky” spinoff “Drago.”
“Just to set the record straight regarding a possible Drago spinoff,” Lundgren posted on his Instagram page. “There’s no approved script, no deals in place, no director and I was personally under the impression that my friend Sly Stallone was involved as a producer or even as an actor. There was a press leak last week which was unfortunate. In touch with Mr Balboa – just so all the fans can relax…There ya go.”
On Sunday, Stallone voiced his displeasure, again, at the development of a spinoff of “Rocky” character Drago, this time demanding that producer Irwin Winkler and his partners return the rights to the characters.
“After IRWIN WINKLER and FAMILY SUCK ROCKY DRY!” Stallone’s deleted Instagram post began, accompanying a photo of Winkler edited to look like Dracula sucking Rocky’s blood. “Presumed to be the most hated, untalented, decrepited (sic) producer in Hollywood and his cowardly children have found their next meal… Drago. RETURN MY RIGHTS BLOODSUCKERS! Throughout history so many artists in every industry, recording, painting, writing you name it have been destroyed by these blood suckers who have destroyed so many families, lining their pockets with other people!”
The post ends with Stallone turning his attention to Dolph Lundgren, who played Russian fighter Ivan Drago in 1985’s “Rocky IV” and is planned to be at the center of the story of this new film.
“DOLPH, why? Not a phone call? #parasite producers #exploited artists victims,” Stallone concluded.
TheWrap exclusively reported Friday that screenwriter Robert Lawton is set to write the “Rocky” spinoff “Drago” for MGM, after Drago’s son Viktor (Florian Munteanu) filled the antagonist role in 2018’s “Creed 2.” Stallone first voiced his anger about the project on Saturday night, saying he never wanted the franchise “to be exploited for this greed.”
Stallone wrote and starred in 1976’s “Rocky” with Winkler – the film’s producer – filling a key role as he helped convince United Artists to make the project with a screenplay by the film’s relatively untested star. Despite creating the franchise, Stallone has no ownership of the series.
There have been eight films in the “Rocky” franchise thus far, with another on the way in the form of “Creed 3,” in which Michael B. Jordan is starring and directing.