Dolph Lundgren says Clint Eastwood is a 'big inspiration'

Dolph Lundgren has hailed Clint Eastwood as one of his “biggest inspirations.”

The 64-year-old actor – who shot to fame playing He-Man in the 1980s as well as ‘Rocky VI’ and ‘Red Scorpion’ and made his directorial debut with the 2004 film ‘The Defender’ – admires the 91-year-old actor-turned-filmmaker for making some of his best work in his later career.

He said: “I look at people Clint Eastwood who is a tough guy. People underestimate him not realising he’s an artist but he’s made some of the greatest movies ever after the age of 60. When he did ‘Unforgiven’, people started to realise he was a really terrific director.”

Dolph went on to quip that he was unsure if he can “last as long” as Eastwood but called him an “inspiration” for managing a successful transition from one side of the camera to the other.

Speaking to HeyUGuys, he explained: “I think one of my biggest inspirations is Clint Eastwood because he’s the guy who made that transition from acting to directing and from action to drama. That’s a tough transition to make. And he’s still going on at 91! I don’t know if I can last that long but if I can do a tenth of what he’s done then I’ll be very happy!”

The action star “feels really good” now but “personal problems” hindered his enjoyment at the peak of his career in the 1980s.

He said: “I enjoy [my career] more now than when I was in the middle of it because I went through a lot of – as we all do – personal problems, business problems, too much alcohol. But I went through all that as actors do. I managed to pull out of it and somehow I ended up feeling really good about my career. I have a lot of options now. I wanted that stuff to happen when I was 35 but it just wasn’t meant to be.”