Dolph Lundgren is back in the director’s chair with Wanted Man. The action genre veteran stars in the new thriller as Travis Johansen, an aging police detective swimming in controversy after an arrest is revealed to have been conducted with excessive force in a racial prejudice rage. When a routine prisoner extradition in Mexico goes awry, Johansen finds himself on the run with the prisoner from corrupt cops on both sides of the border. He has to determine who to trust and confront some of his own problematic beliefs.
Alongside Lundgren, who co-wrote and directed the movie, the ensemble Wanted Man cast includes Frasier‘s Kelsey Grammer, Christina Villa, Michael Paré, Roger Cross, and Aaron McPherson. Borrowing inspiration from a variety of genre classics, while also exploring some timely themes in regard to immigration and racial prejudice within law enforcement, the movie proves an intriguing and different effort from Lundgren.
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Ahead of the movie’s release, Screen Rant interviewed Lundgren to discuss Wanted Man, the challenges behind shooting its action on a smaller budget, and his thoughts on the future of The Expendables franchise and Ivan Drago Creed spinoff. In addition to the interview, Screen Rant presents an exclusive clip from the new movie, which can be viewed below:
The video sees Lundgrn’s Johansen meeting Villa’s Rosa Barranco, who shows immense distrust in the detective as he simply tries to get her and her friend on the road without much care for their concerns.
Dolph Lundgren Talks Wanted Man, Expendables & Drago Futures
Screen Rant: I’m very excited to chat with you. Obviously, you are a legend in the field, but I’m also excited to talk about Wanted Man, which is quite an interesting thriller from you. You’re writing it, you’re directing it, you’re starring in it. Where did the concept first come about?
Dolph Lundgren: Well, thank you. Originally, it was a movie kind of inspired by the Clint Eastwood picture called The Gauntlet, which was in the ’70s, where he takes up an interstate transfer of a prisoner. So, I kind of toyed with the idea of making it an extradition from Mexico instead. But then I got caught up in The Expendable series, and a bunch of other things I did, and 10 years later, I revisited the script and by this time, like a few years ago, immigration was a hot topic.
I went to a Fourth of July party and there was a guy who got a bit drunk, and he started going on a rant about immigration, and I sort of listened to him and I thought, “Hmm, interesting. Maybe my guy’s a bit like that in the beginning, and then he can make a turn in the movie.” And then, I spoke to a writer, the same writer who did the original, and we started shaping the script, and then I got somebody to finance it.
It really is such an important topic in today’s society. Did you find playing that role almost daunting or nerve-wracking, in a way, given how detestable this character is at the start of the movie?
Dolph Lundgren: Well, yeah, I was aware of the fact that people get canceled for speaking like that. [Chuckles] But on the other hand, it’s only a movie, and I’m playing a character, and I just felt as the director, you have to be a little provocative and make people think and take notice, that’s why we’re making art.
Once I got used to that, and I could find the reasons why he is that way — and I think a lot of the reasons, some of it is about his friendships with these other guys who, when you’re with your friends, they kind of keep you in a certain spot in your life. It’s hard to get out of the box, unless you meet other people, and that’s what happens to this guy, he ends up meeting a bunch of other people, human beings that live in a different world than his, and he has to live in that world. And then he realizes, “Okay, maybe I was wrong about a few things here.” So, it was actually interesting to play the guy.
What was it like assembling the cast around you? Because they are just as vital to Johansen’s arc as they are to their own individual stories.
Dolph Lundgren: Thank you, some of them, like Kelsey Grammer, I knew him from Expendables 3, and then I knew him socially, and we have some mutual friends. One guy, who was actually my co-producer, knows him as well, and he suggested Kelsey, and I wasn’t sure at first, but then, I thought about it. I thought, “No, that’s interesting, because it’s so against-type for him.” So, that was it, and that character worked, I thought. And then, Michael Paré, I knew him from another picture I’d done.
For some of the other characters, like Rosa, we had a bunch of castings for that character, and I wanted somebody who speaks fluent Spanish and who was kind of close to that life, her family came over from Mexico. Also, I’ve got people I know that have made that journey as well. They’re not in the movie, but I spoke to them about some of their experiences, but it was fun to work with a cast and people that were really, really into it. They were excited about it, so it was good for me.
With that range of talent, who would you say was the easiest person to direct in this movie?
Dolph Lundgren: Well, everybody was easy to direct. Kelsey, obviously, is extremely experienced, and he had a great take on the character. He nails all his lines and everything in one take, and is a real pro, so he was certainly a real pleasure to work with. Yeah, I would say he is the easiest guy to work with.
I’m glad that you guys got to reunite. We can’t talk about this movie without the action, and I love that it feels somewhat subdued. It’s not explosive, there’s not too many fistfights, it plays to the story. What was that like for you being a legend in this genre trying to find the right balance for this story?
Dolph Lundgren: Well, thanks, man. I try to stay with more reality, where the last thing you want to do is get in a fight with somebody when everybody’s armed, and you usually end up in a shootout before you end up using your fists, unless you’re a boxer or an MMA guy, but in real life usually doesn’t come to that. Also, because of the budget, I had a pretty tough schedule, a short schedule, so you’re trying to get the most bang for your buck and just try to shoot it in ways that feels realistic, and not make it too stylized. If it’s too stylized, it takes too long to do, so that way, it’s a little messy. What I’ve heard about real-life combat and shootouts, it’s always messy, so I tried to keep it that way.
Speaking of getting bang for your buck, was there any one sequence that proved the most challenging to put together?
Dolph Lundgren: I think physically, for me, one tough sequence was the desert road shootout, because I was directing and I was acting, and it was very hot. It was in the hundreds on the desert road, and being the director and actor, I always had to be out in the sun, and it was quite tiring, you know, crawling around under the vehicles. That was a hard, tough sequence, because, also, our leading lady got injured. Some of the glass from the car windows got in her eyes, so she couldn’t work for part of it. I only had so many days to do it, I think I had three days for the whole sequence, including the driving. In a bigger movie, that would be like a week or two, so it was hard work.
It’s incredible how well you pulled it off with that little time, so kudos to you and your team for doing so. You’ve referenced The Expendables a few times, and you just came back for 4. I was kind of surprised that the reaction was as it was from critics, given how fun the first three movies were. What was your initial reaction when you saw some of the reviews for this one?
Dolph Lundgren: Yeah, that’s a good question. I didn’t read the reviews, because I kind of knew what they were gonna say. That project had issues from the beginning, and it usually starts with the script, it really didn’t really have a good script. I’m not playing the lead, so it’s hard for me to weigh in on some of those issues, but I know Stallone wasn’t involved, like he usually is. He just played a character in it, and when he’s in charge, the quality is going to be pretty good, it doesn’t drop below a certain level. But he wasn’t involved, so I think the problem was with the script, and then the director was replaced, like, a month before shooting.
So between those two things — it’s hard to make a really good movie, and I also think that the originals, the first two especially, it was kind of about the team. It was about a team effort, and some of that got lost, so I was sad to see it go that way. Because 50 was in it, he was great, and Megan Fox, they were all good assets. Also, the picture opened during the strike, which wasn’t very clever, so they couldn’t do any publicity. If you would have had a big star-studded premiere with Megan and 50 and Stallone and Statham, and the rest of them, myself, Andy Garcia, there would have been more eyeballs on it. And I’m sure it would have done better, but it’s too bad. I was disappointed.
Do you think that, if Stallone came back and was more in charge of a potential fifth movie, you would be on board to return?
Dolph Lundgren: Yeah, if Sly’s in charge, I think he’s working on his version of another chapter with these guys. If he’s in charge, then yeah, I’m sure it would be fun to work on it.
You and Sly also worked on the second Creed movie, and even though Drago gets some semblance of peace by the end of the movie, do you think there are still stories to tell with him in that universe?
Dolph Lundgren: Yeah, I think so. MGM was developing the script called Drago about my character and my son. I think what happened was the studio changed leadership, and then Creed III did very well, so they started preparing for Creed IV. This is last year, and then now there is a problem with a co-star in Creed IV. That storyline they had on the Drago script was interesting, it was kind of a coming to America, kind of immigration angle, with me and the sun, and it was pretty cool.
It just so happened that, in Creed II, we’re in the Ukraine, in the beginning, we’re in Kyiv. That’s where the movie opens, even though it’s not really mentioned too much. But in the version of the script that I read, it starts with a Russian invasion, and in that, we go through some hard, difficult experiences that makes us want to come to America. It was kind of interesting.
About Wanted Man
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 (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.
