Dolph Lundgren: "Your Olympians Are Remarkable"

The Expendables 2 star on Mo Farah, action movies and chemical engineering

By Richard Luck, 15 August 2012

So, Dolph, how was your London 2012?
It was great thanks, man. And didn't you guys do well? I'm not just taking about hosting the games, which was clearly a huge success, but the way you competed. People in the US forget that the UK's such a small country – 60 million compared to our 300 million-plus. To win more than 60 medals is an incredible achievement. And the dignity that people like Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis showed, that's something that sportsmen the world over could learn from. They're remarkable people, Britain's athletes.

They do seem humble and affable, for the most part...
And that's rare in sportspeople today. There was none of this 'we're number one' crap. They competed, they gave it their all and, when they won, they were quick to thank those people who'd made their success possible and to commiserate with the loser. And as for the guys who didn't win medals, they were just so gracious.

As a sportsman yourself [Dolph was a heavyweight karate champion in both Australia and his native Sweden], were you a good loser?
Karate's all about discipline, so when you lose you have to show respect to the victor, just as you don't gloat when you win. But if I was dignified on the outside, I was tearing myself apart inside when I lost.

Do you miss competitive sport?
Not really – I'm too old for that lifestyle now. It hurts to stay in that sort of shape! But the great thing with sports is that you don't have to compete to be involved. Like at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, I'd made a film called Pentathlon and I found myself asked to serve as the leader of the US Modern Pentathlon team. That was a great experience – to be around the guys and to be involved, albeit in a small way, with the greatest sports event on the planet.

Are action movies a good substitute for the thrills and spills of sport?
They are when they're as good as The Expendables 2.

I take it you're very happy with the film.
Yeah, I'm thrilled with it. I really liked the first Expendables but I think this second film is everything it possible could be. No box has been left unticked.

What's it like having so many stars together on the same set?
Well, it's not what you might think it is – a huge dick-measuring contest. You know, there was a time when all the guys – Arnold [Schwarzenegger], Sylvester [Stallone], Bruce [Willis], Jean-Claude [Van Damme] – were competitive. We wanted to make the biggest and best films, we wanted to make the most money – it was the '80s, after all. But we've all done a lot of growing up since then. Now it's just nice to laugh at the way we were then and enjoy the way we are now.

Continues in right column...

Which of the guys is the funniest?
[Laughs] Apart from me? Sylvester's very funny. He's got a very dry wit which appeals to me, coming from Scandinavia.

And is it true that your background in chemical engineering came into play on the picture?
That's right – yes! There's a scene in Expendables 2 in which my character suggests using dynamite to get out of a tight spot. Before we came to shoot the scene, I explained to [producer] Sylvester that, in those circumstances, if I did such a thing, I'd be dead the moment I lit the fuse. So, me, Sly and [director] Simon West had this big debate about what we should do. In the end we decided that, since movies are about the suspension of disbelief, we should leave things the way they were in the script. But if you ever find yourself in the same situation, whatever you do, don't reach for the TNT!

The Expendables 2 is in cinemas from 16 August. Pentathlon is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray.