This
morning has been an exciting one so far for Dolph Lundgren.
This morning, the athletic actor has faced his most fearsome
foe, an opponent who causes a sharper pain than any Rocky
Balboa could inflict and strikes a deeper fear into a man's
heart than even Skeletor would inspire. Lundgren has survived
the onslaught of this villain, dressed in white with metallic
instruments of torture clutched in his fists, the enemy all
people are called to confront -- and should confront for twice
yearly check-ups: the dentist.
"I was sparring last night and got my tooth chipped,"
says Lundgren, explaining why he's late. While in New York
to promote his new film, Masters of the Universe, he has a
full schedule, including a TV interview later this afternoon.
"I had to get it fixed this morning because I didn't
want to go on live television looking like a pirate."
A pirate-like appearance would be out of character for Lundgren
nowadays. The actor has traded in his metaphoric eyepatch
and malevolent sneer -- used to best bad guy advantage as
a KGB agent in A View to Kill and as a Soviet boxer Ivan Drago
in Rocky IV -- for the heroic part of He-Man, champion of
Eternia and leader of the Masters of the Universe. Although
this is the film that officially makes him a star, the Scandinavian
Lundgren maintains that He-Man was a difficult role for him
to accept.
"It was a very hard decision to make because Masters
is one of those films where if you didn't do it right, it
would be a disaster and everyone would laugh at you for another
20 years," Lundgren comments. "I thought about it
for months and months. First of all, the script turned me
on. Then, the director, Gary Goddard, is one of those guys
who is perfect for that genre -- like George Lucas. You've
got to have a certain frame of mind to deal with these matters
seriously all day for a couple years."
Like other actors who have brought heroes from other media
to cinematic life, Lundgren's performance as He-Man has to
compete with the audience's preconceptions. The millions of
people who have grown up reading Superman comics or playing
with Masters of the Universe toys may feel they know the characters
better than the actors on the screen do. "Frankly, I
think it's an even bigger problem playing He-Man than playing
Superman," Lundgren suggests, "because Superman
at least lives in contemporary society. He-Man is a toy for
little kids, but Superman started out in comic-book stories
and then went the other way into toys.
"As an actor, when you play a character like this one,
there's nothing to latch onto. There's no background research
you can do. You can't find out where He-Man went to high school,
you can't scope out where he has been or how he feels or if
he has any psychological complex or anything that worries
him because He-Man's too much of a perfect character to do
that with. The kids would get worried if I got too introspective
and wonder, 'What's wrong with He-Man?' Basically, my task
was to make the character alive, to make people believe from
the first frame that they were watching a live character who
reacts to his environment, who's angry, who gets frustrated,
who cares about people and so forth.
"He-Man is a very powerful guy, but he also has a sense
of humor," Lundgren continues. "He's more of an
all-around character than some of the other strong heroes.
Superman is a great character the way Christopher Reeve plays
him, but He-Man has more of a killer instinct. He-Man's more
vicious because if he gets shot, he's dead. If you're Superman,
nothing can hurt you. He can eat chocolate eclairs and lie
on his back all day and still win."
"Masters" Recording
In the daily Masters of the Universe TV cartoon series, the
action is primarily set on the fantasy world of Eternia where
the evil Skeletor rules with a bony, yet iron, fist. The Masters
filmmakers, for reasons that seem primarily economic, have
moved the movie's battle between good and evil mostly to Earth.
"The film's excitement lies in the fast-paced action,
the special effects and the contrast between Earth technology
and the technology of Eternia," notes Lundgren. "Bringing
the Masters of the Universe to Earth creates a contrast, not
just between the technologies, but also between the way people
think. He-Man's people are warriors, everybody carries a weapon.
To see somebody on Earth unarmed makes He-Man think, 'Whoa,
what's wrong down here?' That is definitely the hook that
made the whole film, that gave the project money and made
people interested."
Playing opposite Lundgren as the tyrannical Skeletor was classical
actor Frank (Dracula) Langella. "It was great working
with Frank Langella, he was very good. I even got to see his
face once in awhile in the makeup room," jokes Lundgren.
"But it's fun even if you're wearing makeup, because
if you have Frank's talent, so much of your performance comes
through in subtle movements."
Of course, since Langella's lines were a bit muffled on the
soundstage by his Skeletor mask, he had to reissue his dialogue
threats in the common post-production practice known as "looping."
"The re-dubbing was very important," Lundgren agrees.
"My performance improved 100 percent, and so did Frank's,
because the soundstage is such an artificial environment.
You have the sets and the props and all the generators and
fans going to keep everything in place so it doesn't fall
apart or overheat. It was so artificial. And meanwhile, you're
wearing an outfit that's not an everyday clothing line you
can pick off the rack at Sears, and the props aren't even
real -- the guns are made out of plastic and the swords are
aluminum. The only thing you can latch onto is reality. You
try to listen for a fly buzzing around or something like that
to pull you right in. Otherwise, there's too much to distract
you and take you out of focus."
Two major distractions for He-Man -- and Lundgren -- were
the two beautiful women who take part in the film adventure:
Earthbound high-schooler Julie (Courteney Cox) and the Eternian
warrior Teela (Chelsea Field). "Courteney Cox is a very
natural, emotional and childlike actress," says Lundgren.
"She comes across younger than her age. She was perfect
for the part of Julie, the poor girl who runs into all those
creatures and otherworldly soldiers and gets really freaked
out."
And how is she supposed to return to normal life after her
encounter with the Masters of the Universe? "That is
the question, isn't it? Well, He-Man will take care of her.
She can stay at my place," Lundgren jests.
Despite the attentions of Julie and Teela, Lundgren insists
that He-Man doesn't have a romantic interest in the film.
"He-Man treats Teela like a little sister," he says.
"She wants to be in love with him and she's always trying
to prove herself. She's a very quick draw, she'll blow anything
away.
"He's close to Julie and Teela, but if they've got crushes
on him, he doesn't return it. I don't think those girls are
really interesting enough for He-Man. Maybe in the sequel,
he'll find somebody."
At six-foot-six and 240 pounds, Lundgren, a former karate
champ and member of the Swedish Marine Corps, seems physically
ideal for the part of a superhero like He-Man. In addition
to keeping his body in perfect shape, Lundgren has continued
to expand his mind as well. Before he decided to become an
actor, Lundgren earned a degree in chemical engineering. Where
most people tend to concentrate on either their mental or
physical training, Lundgren has elected to develop both aspects
of his life.
"It is a choice," he admits, "but it's a choice
based on some qualities that I was perhaps gifted with, that
I have more than one skill. Many people are gifted that way,
but they are pushed into one field maybe by their parents
or by peer pressure. They think, 'Well, I guess you're supposed
to do only one thing in life, so what am I going to be --
a plumber, or a news reporter?' Once in a while, you meet
somebody who does many different things. They'll go from one
activity to something totally different.
"It's a matter of development and challenge in life,"
Lundgren states philosophically. "You've got one shot
in life -- no rehearsals, that's it. Being involved in martial
arts has helped me because martial arts is physical activity
combined with mental activity."
Lundgren was on his way to continue his chemical engineering
studies at M.I.T. on a Fulbright scholarship when he stopped
over in New York and decided he didn't want to spend the next
few years in a laboratory. Instead, he landed a small role
in the 1985 James Bond movie, A View to Kill. Lundgren became
famous years later when, as Russian gladiator Ivan Drago,
he took on Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV.
Though he was chosen as the man to beat up -- and be ultimately
beaten by -- Rocky, Lundgren surprisingly wasn't the object
of scorn by Stallone's fans. Instead, he developed his own
following. "Nobody was really upset with Drago -- when
the movie was over," he remarks. "That was my intention
playing the character because I get paid to play the villain
and some of the audience should hate my guts and want to see
me beaten. But it's neat that people don't hate your guts
at the film's end. The last frame, Rocky winning, is what
people walk out remembering."
It is a rare occasion, Lundgren reveals, when he is accosted
by irate Stallone fans who want to know why he dared lift
his gloves against their idol. "That happens once in
a while in Queens," he explains. "But they've never
heard of Sylvester Stallone. To them, he's just Rocky."
If Masters of the Universe is successful enough to warrant
further movie adventures, it's possible that Lundgren will
similarly become perpetually identified as He-Man. In the
cartoon series, Skeletor is never vanquished as harshly as
he is on the screen because he always has to have a new plan
for the next day's episode. Have the Masters filmmakers actually
allowed good to triumph over evil at a sequel's expense? Lundgren
says no.
"I don't watch the cartoons every day, but in the film,
Skeletor's defeat is more definite -- but it's still left
open," he says. "As in all big-budget movies nowadays,
you don't kill the bad guy unless you really have to. And
if you look at life, evil -- whatever evil is -- is always
there, bad things are always there. Whether it's just probability
or the hand of God or whatever, it's always going to be there
and what you have to do is accept it and deal with it without
killing yourself.
"Then again, maybe we just put Skeletor away for a little
longer than the cartoon," suggest Dolph Lundgren, "because
it takes longer to make 'Part Two' for a Masters of the Universe
film than it does for a cartoon."
