Ultimate Dolph

by **hansson55** on 05 Sep 2006, 12:48

Another update on Dolphs homepage http://www.dolphlundgren.com/

by **Jox** on 05 Sep 2006, 15:52

That's pretty sweet.

The good news about "Diamond Dogs" is that if they're gonna shoot for 3 months then it's probably a bigger budget because that would be the longest shoot in a long time for Dolph...

He doesn't specify it so he might not be the director on this one...

by **preacher** on 05 Sep 2006, 22:02

Good update. Dolph is keeping busy.

This also confirms that Diamond Dogs is NOT the "Modern Western" he´s been talking about.
I like the premise of Diamond Dogs. As long as it does not turn in to a cheesy adventure film filled with perky kids and stupid people that is. Like the setting as well. Hope Dolph directs it: He, and his DoP, got alot out of the locations in The Mechanik. I would´nt mind seeing Dolph working with other directors in the future. If he produces the films himself he can hire a director of choise.

The Western is probably the one set in New Mexico.

by **Tom** on 06 Sep 2006, 12:19

I'm glad he's got the Western in his plans, plus 2 more films in Russia as well. Looks like Dolph is loving getting projects off the ground himself. As far as I can guess, he'll be directing Diamond Dogs, as he's said in some interviews. Plus it's a good sign that he's having a 3 month shoot! That's 3 times longer than usual for Lundgren's movies. Retrograde in fact was shot in 18 days, Stormcatcher in 17. That sums up how his career was going. Also just think what he did with The Defender and Mechanik, working under the B-movie company restrictions. It seems that DD is going to be given time to do a proper job on in, and spend time on the action etc. This could really show off Dolph's talents, because he's now going to have a more free reign on his projects. For the first time he's doing stuff he's developing himself, rather than stuff offered to him which needs his signiture to get financed. The DD idea sounds a bit Tombraiderish, but will be good. I like the ideas he's got. Plus outside of the tight studio restrictions, and a bit more independant, Dolph may be able to get a better cast. Because of money saving etc, he had to cast a lot of Bulgarian actors, and was only allowed a couple of non-Bulgarian actors in it. We may find a more proffesional and varied cast for DD too. I'd love to see some of his Inquiry co-stars pop up again, and also Ben Cross too. Maybe he can also now cast a few of those top b-movie actors floating about like Rutger Hauer, Brad Dourif, Eric Roberts.

by **Jox** on 08 Sep 2006, 11:16

Well I got some fresh news directly from the set of "Diamond Dogs"!

The writer sent me email. So DD is written by Leopold St Pierre and the movie is being directed by Shimon Dotan, who produced "Hidden Agenda" and previously directed "Warriors" and "Coyote Run" with Michael Pare.

Nothing more about the story, except that the expedition group is searching for a Buddhist tapestry that may or may not be cursed, and that the members of the group start getting killed one by one as they go through the wilds of Mongolia... Almost sounds like "The Defender!"

Again St Pierre added that Dolph is a "really nice, really smart gentleman, and all wo work with him find it a real pleasure".

by **Tom** on 08 Sep 2006, 13:43

I'm a little disapointed now. I'd hoped this was part of Dolph's own developed projects. To me this seems like it's one that Dolph's doing to bring home the bread, as he won't get paid as much for his own work obviously. I don't expect we'll get much joy from the writer or director, considering their track records. This to me seems as if it's in Sweepers territory, a decent idea and location that'll be let down by a poor production. I hope I'm wrong. Maybe Dolph's got a more executive role, and he might also push harder for the film to be made right. I odn't know whether he'd sign up for another film that could end up like Retrograde.

Still there's always his Russian projects and his westerns I suppose. I also wonder whether this will actually be a 3 month shoot, or whether they'll have the entire films shot and cut in 3 months. I'd certainly hope they take their time and make something good but sadly this now seems like a backward step. Perhaps Dolph is doing this to raise finance for his own pictures. And Doton who's worked with Michael Pare a couple of times may give us a Pare and Lundgren team up? Who knows.

by **Jox** on 08 Sep 2006, 15:46

I tend to agree with you Tom... now I have a few more infos from St Pierre.

A positive side is that the distribution/co-production company is Moonstone Entertainment ("Hidden Agenda" also), and I think they're honest enough for at least trying to go for quality as well as a good product. And in the case of DD, they also now have experience in working in China, the latest film they did there being "Wu Ji" ("The Promise"), a big fantasy/adventure epic. Now the DD budget is again in the $6 million range but according to St Pierre (and I believe so) the Chinese crews can also give you a "bang for your buck" and it "will be a great Dolph Lundgren film", themost difficult here being to work with the remote locations.

St Pierre said:

"Dolph gets VERY involved in the script phase (I received about 16 pages of VERY thought-out, very smart notes & suggestions on DD directly from him. (He really knows his character and what his fans want -- & is willing to fight for it. His fans are his #1 priority, I can assure you."

The project came up after Dolph and Dotan who are good friends tried to work out a new project together (remember there was also the "Inside Man Out" and "Rewind" projects?!) and discussed ideas about doing something in some exotic place. After a Chinese partner got involved, they opted out for China and Mongolia. So they hired St Pierre to pitch them ideas, and they chose two: DD and another picture for Dolph to star in called TUMBLING DICE.

by **Tom** on 08 Sep 2006, 17:55

Yeah 6mill can stetch far in China. Hidden Agenda at least was goign for something decent, albeit it suffered from trying to be too complicated. I hope DD is more of a straight out action adventure, and if they have the same attitude as was shown in HA, then it could certainly be a worthy addition to the Dolph's CV. I'm hoping that the Chinese crews will offer us plenty of insane stunts too, which can really spice up proceedings. If the action is convceived well enough, I'd hope they will have the crews to deliver something decent. However unlike the Mechanik, I cna't envision DD being one of Dolph's best. However the advantage is that I can be proved wrong, and pleasantly surprised.

by **Tom** on 08 Sep 2006, 19:24

Hey Jox, any chance you can do some snooping and find out about the co-stars of the film? One good thing about Dotan is that he's worked with people like Pare, Rutger Hauer, Gary Busey, Patrick Bergin, Michael Ironside and Rob Lowe, so we may see a decent co-star lining up with the D man.

I also hope the get Sylvain Brault to do the cinemtography, he did a great job on HA. That's if they can't line up Ross Clarkson.

by **Jox** on 08 Sep 2006, 20:03

Yeah I was actually thinking about asking him about the cast, I'm gonna try to get as much information as possible. So far St Pierre seemed very willing to answer my questions, he said he's actually rushing out to do some rewrites but he still took the time to send a detailed email with his replies to my first questions. He also seemed very impressed with the site and pleased that we support Dolph...

by **Tom** on 08 Sep 2006, 20:51

One thing that could work out well is that as Dolph seems to want to move into more grounded action, and a bit more maturity in his own action ideas. This film could be a bit more of a simplistic action fest, with a bit of 80's style cheese, like Direct Action for example. The sort of film I think I'd begin to yearn for. I don't mind Dolph carrying on working on a hire basis, I just hope he balances it right with his personal projects. DD could be a great, fun, little action adventure, with some scope for martial arts fights in it.

by **Jox** on 11 Sep 2006, 11:03

Well let's hope DD turns out good, as "Tumbling Dice" seems to be a follow up. Leo St Pierre said:

Dolph, incidentally, plays a character named Xander Ronson in both "Diamond Dogs" and the follow-up "Tumbling Dice"

by **preacher** on 11 Sep 2006, 13:45

Dolph, incidentally, plays a character named Xander Ronson in both "Diamond Dogs" and the follow-up "Tumbling Dice"

Xander Ronson.
Thats a cool name

by **The_Canadian** on 12 Sep 2006, 00:35

Personally, I believe ever action star deserves their own franchise.

Finally, Dolph has a film franchise all his own! The dream shall come to pass!

by **Jox** on 12 Sep 2006, 01:47

"Tumbling Dice" (an indirect sequel) will follow Dolph's Xander Ronson character into Shanghai, where he gets caught up in another adventure involving Genghis Khan's offspring and a pair of spears (along with as bunch of bad guys competing to get the priceless spears & the power they are rumoured to hold.) Whereas "Diamond Dogs" is filmed mostly in the wilds of Mongolia, Tumbling is mostly in big city Shanghai.

from Leo St. Pierre

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