Posted in: Movies | Tagged: creed II, film, mgm

Ivan Drago is "Emotionally Damaged" in Creed II

Published Mon, 29 Oct 2018 15:25:59 -0500

It seems that the world of Creed seems keen to repeat itself but looking through the eyes of a different generation. The first movie showed Adonis Johnson coming to terms with being the son of Apollo Creed. Now Creed II is poised to have the sons of Apollo and Ivan Drago fight each other. Empire got the chance to speak to Dolph Lundgren about the role that defined his career and where Ivan Drago is when this movie starts.

"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 didn't want to return to the role initially, he's said previously that he's moved beyond it, but it was there was a change with how Lundgren relates to the character now that he's older.

"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 went on to be an awards darling in 2015 and was one of the movies that help propel Ryan Coogler to mainstream success. We can hope this sequel is just as good as the first one.

Summary: Under the tutelage of Rocky Balboa, newly crowned light-heavyweight champion Adonis Creed faces off against Viktor Drago, the son of Ivan Drago.

Creed II, directed by Steven Caple Jr., stars Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, and Florian Munteanu. It will be released November 21st.

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