Dolph Lundgren Dishes His Role (And Channing Tatum’s) In The Coens' ‘Hail, Caesar!’
Dolph Lundgrenisn’t the kind of guy you’d normally expect to see in aCoen Brothersmovie, and he knows it, too. “It was a bit of a shocker,” he says of his role inHail, Caesar!But now that he’s settled into the part, he has some juicy new details to share about the period comedy, including exactly whatChanning Tatumwill be doing in it. Read all about the Dolph LundgrenHail Caesarrole after the jump.
Set in 1950s Hollywood,Hail, Caesar!is anot-quite musical comedyabout a studio fixer named Eddie Mannix, which takes place on one very busy day. Mannix winds through the pictures in production on a Hollywood backlot, dealing with problems like an unexpectedly pregnant actress and a nosy gossip columnist.
Speaking toCreative Screenwritingabout his new thrillerSkin Trade(which he helped write), Lundgren touched upon his upcoming part inHail, Caesar!:
It was a bit of a shocker. They called me out of nowhere a few months ago. It’s a movie set in the 1950s called Hail, Caesar! and it’s about the studio system. Basically, one of the characters is going to defect to the Soviet Union because he loves communism because they have great uniforms [Laughs]. That’s Channing Tatum’s character in the movie, and they wanted someone to play a submarine commander. I guess they wanted someone kind of iconic where the audience sees the person and says, “Holy shit!” [Laughs]. So I’m wearing a Russian fur hat and I’m on this huge submarine in Malibu. It was fun to work with them. They were very nice guys, and of course I’m a huge fan of theirs and I never expected to be in any Coen brothers movies, but I guess I am!
Previously, Tatum’s character had been described as a"Gene Kelly type.“The real-life Kelly never tried to defect to the Soviet Union, but like many big stars of the era he was affected by the Red Scare when it hit Hollywood. His wife Betsy Blair was accused of being a Communist sympathizer, and he was one of several celebrities whopublicly opposedthe House of Un-American Activities Committee’s investigation into the industry.
Lundgren’s role sounds pretty wild, but it’s not hard to imagine how such a character would fit into the offbeat world of the Coens.Hail, Caesar!opensFebruary 5, 2016.Josh Brolin,George Clooney,Scarlett Johansson,Jonah Hill,Ralph Fiennes, andTilda Swintonalso star.
