Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone’s feud with Rocky producer Dolph Lundgren doesn’t seem to end anytime soon. The Golden Globe-winning actor has once again slammed the producer over the ownership rights of the characters. This comes after the producers of the franchise made an announcement on Saturday that they were developing a spin-off titled Drago, focused on Ivan Drago, which is a well-known character from Rocky film series.
However, the development hasn’t been taken well by the maker and star of the original Rocky franchise. And now, while criticising the producer on his official social media account, the veteran actor has described the announcement as “another heartbreaker.” Sylvester dragged Lundgren and producer Irwin Winkler by name for allegedly cutting him out of the Rocky universe.
While posting a screenshot of a news article, Sylvester wrote in the caption, “Another 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 … 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.”
Following it up with another post, Sylvestor dropped a series of photographs, which featured a photoshopped picture of Winkler with vampire’s teeth sucking Rocky’s blood and stabbing him in the back. Sylvester wrote in the caption, “After Irwin Winkler and family suck Rocky dry! Presumed to be the most hated, untalented, decrepit, Producer in Hollywood and his cowardly children have found their next meal… Drago? Throughout history so many artists in every industry, recording, painting, writing, you name it have been destroyed by these bloodsuckers Who have destroyed so many families, lining their pockets with other people’s work.. parasite producers exploited artists victims”.
The actor’s comment arrived barely a week after he criticised the producer for allegedly denying him the rights to the franchise for around five decades. In 1976, Sylvester wrote and starred in the first Rocky and went on to make several sequels including a spinoff series in Creed. Last week, MGM studios announced Drago will focus on Dolph Lundgren’s Russian boxer with the same name, which was portrayed by him in 1985’s Rocky IV, as well as his son Viktor Drago—played by Florian Munteanu.
