Dolph Lundgren: 80s action stars were "physical specimens that you can look up to"

Who doesn't have a fondness for action films from the 1980s, especially those featuring muscular and iconic actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers, Lou Ferrigno and Dolph Lundgren. They were larger-than-life individuals, a representation and counterpart that is somewhat lacking in modern times and which Dolph Lundgren himself reflected on in an interview where he talks about the state of action films today.

"They're very good now. I mean, people are very good at putting these things together. Back in those days, you took somebody who could take their shirt off and have real muscles. Now, you take somebody who has won an Academy Award, put them in a suit, and he looks like he's got muscles. Some do have real physiques, but in those days, Stallone and Schwarzenegger and Van Damme, they were really physical specimens that you can look up to, not just as an actor or as a character, but as a person, as a man."

Lundgren went on to describe how, for example, Arnold and Van Damme had a unique presence in their films in the good old days.

"There's another feeling when you watch Conan the Barbarian with Arnold. You really believe it. You really believe it's him doing it. There are no quick cuts. They're not trying to hide the double, because he doesn't have a double, because you couldn't get a double for Arnold. Well, maybe in a long shot, but how could you double Arnold's physique? There's no way. He had to do it all himself. It was the same with me and Sly in Rocky IV, all that boxing. We didn't have doubles. It was us."

Do you think action heroes were better in the past?