The new action mystery “Wanted Man” will be released theatrically, on-demand and digitally starting Jan. 19, directed, co-written and produced by and starring Dolph Lundgren (“Rocky IV,” “Creed II,” “Expend4bles”). Formation
Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” in Quiver Distribution’s action mystery “Wanted Man. “Photo courtesy of Perbernal.
Moviefone recently had the excitement of speaking with Dolph Lundgren about his work on “Wanted Man,” how the script was developed, what themes he was looking to explore, his character arc, his collaboration with Christina Villa, the casting of his longtime friends Kelsey Grammer and Michael Paré. , why he enjoys directing, engaging with his crew, and how his years of experience helped him shoot the action sequences.
Lundgren also talked about the “Rocky” and “Creed” spin-off film, “Drago,” whether it’s still in development, and why it’s vital to involve Sylvester Stallone in the project.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” in Quiver Distribution’s action mystery “Wanted Man. “Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you tell us about the progression of the script and, as a director, what were the themes you planned to explore with this film?
Dolph Lundgren: I started thinking about this concept about 15 years ago and other things came up. It was loosely based on this (Clint) Eastwood movie called “The Gauntlet,” in which he goes and transfers a prisoner between the United States. I replaced it with Mexico, and then a few years ago the original writer and I started talking about immigration because it’s a hot topic. So I thought maybe he deserved to make this character someone who’s a little bitter and angry at the world and has something to learn. So, when you end up in Mexico, you end up experiencing this adventure and physical test, but also an emotional challenge to your trust system. These are the issues I was looking to address.
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: In the more sensible part of the film, this guy is obviously a veteran. It’s in law enforcement. It’s bitter with the world. He has friends who reinforce those concepts in him. I don’t think he’s literally a bad guy. He’s in a bad place in his life, especially at the beginning of the movie, where he has an altercation. with an illegal immigrant and his police strategies the best. He’s a little outdated and ends up getting into trouble with the press and with the mayor’s office, and to save his career they send him to bring those two prisoners back and they’re real witnesses in a homicide investigation of two federal agents. So when you arrive in Mexico, things are much more confusing than you imagined and nothing goes as planned. Then, by dint of meeting with other people who help him, he ends up changing his brain about many things. I would say come back changed.
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 with the character, he reminded me a little of my father. My father was a wise man, but he had the habits of him, he had a lot of anger and frustration and he never succeeded. He’s become a little more enlightened as he’s gotten older, like people, but not really. So at first I played my dad a little bit and I thought it was fun. It was satisfying to be able to touch the bow. That’s what you’re looking for as an actor, because it gives you something to do that’s a little more complicated than just gambling in the moment. So I enjoyed it.
(From left to right) Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” and Christina Villa as “Rosa” in the action mystery “Wanted Man,” a Quiver Distribution version. 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 is a Mexican prostitute. She had to do this in the United States and then she witnessed those murders. At first my character doesn’t like it. He didn’t like me at all. We weren’t the best of friends, but little by little we got to know each other and it was a real challenge to find someone to play with. I was looking for someone who was Hispanic and had some experience in that area and he did it, and I thought it was amazing. I had a lot of Hispanic actors (on set) and they were always great at asking questions because they would come in and say, “Well, maybe we deserve to replace this with this because that’s how we say it or that’s how we feel. ” I always said, “Yeah, okay. You know, guys,” and she did. She came with some smart advice.
MF: Can you talk about casting veteran actors Kelsey Grammer and Michael Paré?
DL: I enjoyed running with them. I know Kelsey from “The Expendables 3” and then socially, I hung out with him and we’re looking to do anything together. I think it would be an attractive selection because it’s not what you would expect. Michael Paré, I worked with him about 15 years ago and he was a wonderful guy. He’s a really smart employee and an honest guy, and I figured he’d be smart. I liked to run with them.
Kelsey Grammer as “Brynner” in the action mystery “Wanted Man,” a Quiver Distribution version. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
MF: Can you tell us about your preparation for making this film and what do you like about filmmaking?
DL: What I like are those smaller films that I feel I really enjoy and that I can contribute. Maybe more than the number of administrators you can hire. So I feel like it’s easy to leave everything at home. If I write, direct, and even act or co-star, then I know that no one will ruin the image or do anything to damage it. I think my technique is to prepare well and tell all the actors about a month in advance about their stories, characters and relationships so that when we get to the set I don’t have much to say. Comes alive in the moment. Then I discovered that I am very fast as a director. I don’t like to do too many takes and try to get seven other variations. If something works, in my experience, it works. Typically, you might not get anything better than 10%, even if you keep shooting twenty more takes. So I go out to do things very temporarily and I go out to shoot the first shot very temporarily in the morning. I learned this from a veteran and it was fun. He would just walk up to the cinematographer and say, “Okay, if you see this plane land, shoot it. » Then everyone on the team hears “Rolling,” like after 20 minutes. Then they say, “Oh, we’re already working. ” I don’t do this all the time, but he always said: “You have to fire the first shot within an hour, otherwise everything stops. ” So that’s my technique.
MF: Can you communicate with your team about production execution and post-production?
DL: I had a challenge with this photo because we had challenges in New Mexico with the team. It was right after Covid and Netflix were in Albuquerque hiring a bunch of people, so we had some difficulty putting this all together. I had some investment challenges towards the end, so I didn’t have enough time to write all the storyboarding I wanted. I did this in my last photo. Next time I’ll do a storyboard. I like storyboards. I think it’s helpful and gives you a chance to think about it visually before you’re on set and going crazy because you have to take the photo and there’s so many other things going on. I like running with the DP. I like storyboarding and post-production is very important, obviously, editing and post-production, especially when you have a short schedule. So you have to take shortcuts when shooting, and you may have to compensate for that in editing or in the way you paint later in terms of symbols or sound quality. So this is all fun. I appreciate all this.
Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” in Quiver Distribution’s action mystery “Wanted Man. “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.
(From left to right) Dolph Lundgren stars as Ivan Drago and Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Warner Bros. ‘ Creed II. Pictures. 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 us an update on the movie “Drago” that has been talked about for a long time?Is this task still ongoing and are you still at it?
DL: I was part of it. He’s been in the picture for a while. I think what happened is that there have been adjustments within companies. MGM had a new president and a new owner, and things were put out for a while. Then “Creed III” came out. And he did it very well. So, in “Creed IV,” they started making plans for that. They’re looking to figure out where to position Draco in the franchise. Where do you stand? Probably between “III” and “IV”. So, it’s still in the painting. I think it would be a wonderful task and it would be fun to paint with (Sylvester) Stallone because he created those characters and he’s very wise about it. So this will be achieved sometime before it gets too old.
Wanted Man”It’s better to cross safe borders”Not rated yet1 hr 25 minFeb 1, 2024Timings & Tickets
Then follows a police officer who will have to retrieve an eyewitness and escort him after a cartel shootout leaves several DEA agents dead, but then he’ll have to who to trust. . . Read the plot
Travis Johansen (Lundgren) is an elderly detective whose policing strategies have recently caused the branch a public relations problem. To save his job, he is sent to Mexico to extradite a woman (Christina Villa) who witnessed the murders of two DEA agents. Once there, he discovers not only that his former perspectives are being questioned, but that bad men on both sides of the border are now shooting at him and his witness.
Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” in Quiver Distribution’s action mystery “Wanted Man. “Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.