Sylvester Stallone has criticized his Rocky IV co-star on Instagram over a proposed spin-off about Ivan Drago and his family.
Dolph Lundgren played Russian boxer Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, reprised the character in Creed II, and last November told The Hollywood Reporter: “I think there’s some talk about doing a whole spin-off on Drago with MGM.”
Last week The Wrap seemed to confirm that news, claiming that Robert Lawton was working on a screenplay. Lawton previously wrote a script about the making of the original movie entitled Becoming Rocky.
But Sylvester Stallone isn’t happy about these announcements, with the Rocky actor taking to Instagram to hit out at those involved.
What did Sylvester Stallone say about Drago?
Writing on Instagram – where he uses some creative punctuation – Stallone said…
“Heartbreaker… Just found this out…ONCE AGAIN , IRWIN WINKLER , this PATHETIC 94 year old PRODUCER and HIS MORONIC VULTURE CHILDREN, Charles And David , are once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me.
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“I APOLOGIZE to the FANS , I never wanted ROCKY characters to be exploited by these parasites… By the way, I once had nothing but respect for Dolph but he NEVER told me about what was going on behind my back with the character I created for him !!! REAL FRIENDS Are more precious than gold.
Dolph Lundgren responds to Stallone’s jabs
Dolph Lundgren quickly responded to the accusations, though rather than outright apologize publicly, he said they were dealing with the matter in private.
“Just to set the record straight regarding a possible Drago spinoff” he writes on Instagram. “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.”
This isn’t the first time Stallone has attacked those controlling the rights to Rocky. Just last month he slammed producer Irwin Winkler, claiming he would have made three “wonderful” Rocky movies were it not for them, and stating “I wanted to leave something of Rocky for my children.”
