Florian Munteanu Discusses Growing Up With the Rocky Movies Before Becoming Viktor Drago in Creed II

ComingSoon.net recently interviewed Creed II actor Florian Munteanu on playing the role of Ivan Drago’s son, Viktor Drago, in the new film. Below are some highlights.

Florian Munteanu on growing up with the original films: “Yeah, I mean, I was growing up with the “Rocky” movies. I’m a big fan of the franchise. My father was a big fan of the franchise, too. Those movies motivated me and inspired me to actually start working out because I saw guys like Sly and Dolph and I actually wanted to look like them, so I asked my father to get me into the gym because my desire was to look like them. So it plays a big role in my life, those movies.”

Florian Munteanu on how he landed the role: “I kind of just offered to audition for the role. They were looking for a European guy, a big heavyweight who had the looks and I thought it’s a pretty good idea. Actually, when I first saw the role, I was pretty sure about myself that I’m going to get it. You know, sometimes in life you have those feelings, where you’re simply sure about yourself that this is your moment? So I auditioned for the role, had some self-tapes going on, some auditions, went back and forth. Then they called me and said, “Hey, Sly likes you. He wants to do a live Skype audition with you.” So I prepared two scenes for that live Skype audition and Sly liked what he saw. He flew me to LA and then I had four days of rehearsals with our director Steven Caple. He approved me too, and then I got the role. Then I got the job.”

Munteanu on how he spoke with Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren about approaching the character: “You’re right that it’s a follow-up of “Rocky IV,” but it’s rather a “Rocky IV 2.0,” you know? “Creed” has its own DNA. Viktor and Ivan are two different characters. Ivan was pretty much a killing machine without emotions back in the day. Viktor has a lot of emotions, even though he’s quiet like Ivan, but there’s a lot of issues going on with them and there’s a lot of emotions. He’s fighting for the right stuff. So obviously, I was honored to play the son of such an iconic role, and there was pressure on my shoulders because Sly discovered me and he said, “this is the right guy for this movie.” So I knew that I can’t let those people down because they trusted me. I was going to give more than 100 percent. They trusted me, both of them, the same as our director, and they were trying not to give me too many instructions and to just go with the flow, trust the process and let my natural instinct do the work. And I think it worked. I think we nailed it.”

Munteanu on how Viktor Drago sees Adonis Creed: “I think Viktor doesn’t see Creed much as a threat. I think he already knows that he has the edge towards him. It comes down to power. It comes down to the size and reach. The thing that gets to him is that he’s pretty much surprised in the first fight that Creed shows so much endurance and so much heart. He assumed he would take him out pretty early, but he’s still coming out from the second round and then it’s getting emotional because Ivan is telling him all those things, like, “This is the reason why she left us.” Once Viktor gets emotional, and I think that’s pretty much in life in general, if you are emotional and it goes to your head, you lose your thinking. There’s too many emotions going on his side, so he’s not focused on boxing anymore. Creed, on the other hand, for the second fight, he went back to the desert and back to the roots, basically.”