'Wanted Man' Exclusive Interview: Dolph Lundgren

Moviefone speaks with Dolph Lundgren about directing 'Wanted Man' and the 'Drago' Movie. "It's still in the works. So hopefully it'll get made at some point."

Opening in theaters, On Demand and digital beginning January 19th is the new action thriller ‘Wanted Man,’ which was directed, co-written, produced by and stars Dolph Lundgren (‘Rocky IV,’ ‘Creed II,’ ‘Expend4bles’).

Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” in the action thriller, 'Wanted Man,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Perbernal.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dolph Lundgren about his work on ‘Wanted Man,’ developing the screenplay, the themes he wanted to explore, his character’s arc, working with Christina Villa, casting old friends Kelsey Grammer and Michael Paré, why he likes directing, collaborating with his crew, and how his years of experience helped him shoot the action sequences.

Lundgren also discussed the long rumored ‘Rocky’ and ‘Creed’ spinoff movie, ‘Drago,’ if it’s still in development, and why it’s important to have Sylvester Stallone involved with the project.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.

(L to R) Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” in the action thriller, 'Wanted Man,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about developing the screenplay and as a director, what were the themes that you were excited to explore with this movie?

Dolph Lundgren: I started developing the idea of this was about 15 years ago and other things came up. It was kind of loosely based on this (Clint) Eastwood movie called ‘The Gauntlet,’ where he goes and has an interstate transfer of a prisoner. I changed that to Mexico and then a couple of years back, the original writer and I started talking about making it about immigration because it's a hot topic. Then I decided maybe I should make this character somebody who is a bit bitter and angry at the world and got something to learn. So, by ending up in Mexico, he ends up going through this physical journey and trial, but also an emotional challenge to his beliefs system. So those are the themes I wanted to touch upon.

MF: Can you talk about Travis’ personal views on society, how those ideas are challenged during the movie and how he ultimately changes as a character?

DL: At the top of the film, this guy, obviously he's an old timer. He's in law enforcement. He's bitter at the world. He's got these friends who reinforce those ideas in him. I don't think he's really a bad guy. He's in a bad spot in his life, especially at the beginning of the movie, where he has a run in with an illegal alien and his policing methods aren't the greatest. He's a bit old-fashioned and he ends up getting in trouble with the press and with the mayor's office, and to save his career they send him down to bring these two prisoners back and they're really witnesses in a murder investigation of two federal agents. So, when he gets to Mexico, things are way more complicated than he thought, and nothing goes as planned. Then, by meeting various people who help him, he ends up changing his mind about a lot of things. I would say he comes back a changed man.

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MF: What was it like for you as an actor to get to play an arc like that?

DL: It was interesting. When I started working on the character, he kind of reminded me of my dad. My dad was an intelligent man, but he was set in his ways, and he had a lot of anger and frustration and he never really got to turn the corner. He got a little more enlightened when he got older as people do, but not really. So, I sort of played a little bit of my dad in the beginning and I thought it was fun. It was satisfying to get to play an arc. It's always what you look for as an actor because it gives you something to do that is a little more challenging than just playing the moment. So, I enjoyed it.

(L to R) Daniela Soto-Brenner as “Leticia” and Christina Villa as “Rosa” in the action thriller, 'Wanted Man,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

MF: Can you talk about the friendship Travis forms with Rosa and working on that relationship with Christina Villa?

DL: So, one of the witnesses is this woman named Rosa who's a Mexican prostitute. She had to do that to survive in the states and then she's been a witness of these murders. My character first doesn't like her. She doesn't like me at all. We were not the greatest of friends, but slowly we get to know each other, and it was a challenging character to find somebody to play. I wanted somebody who was Hispanic and had some experience about that and she did, and I thought she was great. I had a lot of Hispanic actors (on the set) and they were always good to ask because they would come up and say, "Well, maybe we should change this to that because this is the way we say it or this is how we feel." I would always say, "Yeah, fine. You guys know,” and she did that. She came with some good suggestions.

MF: Can you talk about casting veteran actors Kelsey Grammer and Michael Paré?

DL: I enjoyed working with them. I know Kelsey from ‘The Expendables 3’ and then socially I've spent some time with him, and we always try to do something together. I thought it would be an interesting choice because he's not what you expect. Michael Paré, I worked with him about 15 years ago, and he was always such a great guy. He's such a good worker and stand-up guy, and I thought he'd be good. I enjoyed working with them.

Kelsey Grammer as “Brynner” in the action thriller, 'Wanted Man,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

MF: Can you talk about your approach to directing this movie, and what do you like about directing?

DL: What I do like is for these smaller movies that I feel like I have a lot of experience that I can bring to the table. Maybe more than a lot of directors that I could afford to hire. So, I feel like it's easy to keep it all in-house. If I write, direct and even star or co-star, then I know nobody's going to mess with the picture or do something that's going to hurt it. I think my approach is to prepare quite well and speak to all the actors about a month ahead of time about their backstories, the characters and the relationships so that when we show up on set and I don't have to say that much. It just comes alive in the moment. Then I try to be very quick as a director. I don't like doing too many takes and trying to get seven different variations. If something works, in my experience, it works. Usually, you're not going to get anything that's more than 10% better, even if you keep shooting another twenty takes. So, I try to keep it moving forward very quickly, and I try to get the first shot off very quickly in the morning. I learned that from an old-timer, and he was funny. He would just go up to the DP and say, "Okay, you see that plane landing, shoot that." So, everybody in the crew hears “Rolling,” like after 20 minutes. So, they're like, “Oh, we're working already. I don't do that all the time, but he always said, "You got to get the first shot off within an hour, otherwise everything grinds to a halt." So now that's kind of my approach to it.

MF: Can you talk about working with your crew both during production and post-production?

DL: I had a problem on this picture because we had some issues in New Mexico with the crew. It was right after Covid and Netflix was in Albuquerque hiring a bunch of people, so we had difficulties putting it together. I had problems with the financing towards the end, so I didn't have sufficient time to storyboard as much as I wanted. I did that on my last picture. Next time I'm going to storyboard. I like storyboarding a lot. I think it's helpful and it gives you a chance to think about it visually before you're on set and you're going crazy because you must get the shot off and there's a lot of other things happening. I enjoy working with the DP. I enjoy storyboarding and post-production is very important, obviously, the editing and the post-production, especially when you're on a short schedule. So, you must cut corners when you're shooting, and you may have to make up for it in editing or in the way you work with picture quality or sound later. So, all of those are fun. I enjoy all of it really.

Aaron McPherson as “Hilts,” Kelsey Grammer as “Brynner” and Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” in the action thriller, 'Wanted Man,' a Quiver Distribution release.

(L to R) Aaron McPherson as “Hilts,” Kelsey Grammer as “Brynner” and Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” in the action thriller, 'Wanted Man,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

MF: Did your decades of experience making action movies come in handy when you were creating and shooting the action sequences for ’Wanted Man’?

DL: It does come in handy, and I've done a lot of action with various directors and different stunt coordinators. I have my way to shoot it so I can try to get as many cuts as possible in the shortest amount of time possible since when you edit, you just need more angles to build an action scene, usually you need a lot of angles. It's a function of the number of cuts, how good it's going to be usually. So, I think my experience comes in handy. Also speaking to the actors and talking to the stunt guys. I mean, I have a lot of respect for stunt people and always listen to them and safety is first. But I think there is a way not to waste time doing action, which I've been in movies where they waste a lot of time shooting stuff that I know we were not going to use.

(L to R) Dolph Lundgren stars as Ivan Drago and Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in 'Creed II,' a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures film.
Photo: Barry Wetcher / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures.
© 2018 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

MF: Finally, can you give an update on the long rumored ‘Drago’ movie? Is that project still happening and are you still involved in it?

DL: I was involved in it. It was in the works for a while. I think what happened was there was some corporates changes. MGM got a new president and new ownership, and things were sidelined for a while. Then ‘Creed III’ came out and did very well. So, ‘Creed IV,’ they started planning that. They're trying to figure out where to put Drago in the franchise. Where does he fit in? Probably between ‘III’ and ‘IV.’ So, it's still on the works. I think it would be a great project and it would be something fun to work with (Sylvester) Stallone on because he created those characters and he's very smart about it. So hopefully it'll get made at some point before I'm too old.

Wanted Man

"Some borders are better not crossed."

Not Yet Rated1 hr 25 minFeb 1st, 2024

Showtimes & Tickets

Watch Wanted Man Online

What is the plot of ‘Wanted Man’?

Travis Johansen (Lundgren) is an aging detective, whose outdated policing methods have given the department a recent public relations problem. To save his job, he is sent to Mexico to extradite a female witness (Christina Villa) to the murders of two DEA agents. Once there, he finds not only his old opinions challenged, but that bad hombres on both sides of the border are now gunning for him and his witness.

Who is in the cast of ‘Wanted Man’?

Dolph Lundgren ('Masters of the Universe,' 'The Punisher') as Travis Johansen
Kelsey Grammer ('Jesus Revolution,' 'The Marvels') as Brynner
Christina Villa ('River') as Rosa Barranco
Michael Paré ('Eddie and the Cruisers,' 'Streets of Fire') as Tinelli
Roger Cross ('The Chronicles of Riddick,' 'War for the Planet of the Apes') as Cheif

(L to R) Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” and Christina Villa as “Rosa” in the action thriller, 'Wanted Man,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.