Who plays Viktor Drago? The star of "Creed II" is Florian Munteanu

When we think of the stars of Creed The first names that come to mind are the typical Michael B. Jordan, the dazzling actor who plays the lead role in Adonis Creed, and Sylvester Stallone, who is obviously the illustrious boxer turned coach Rocky Balboa.

However, there is a new star among the troupe whose name will probably be on everyone's lips when viewers will have a glimpse of the clever and stuffed punches that he delivers in the new film, Creed II, released Wednesday.

Florian Munteanu plays the lead role of Viktor Drago, the son of Rocky's biggest enemy, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). While the Romanian already has a well-established name as a professional boxer, the film marks Munteanu's leading role on the big screen.

Munteanu told it all about his first experience in making movies and what it was like to be a professional boxer in the ring with Jordan, a professional actor playing a boxer.

Were you a fan of the Rocky franchise before getting involved in the project?

Absolutely! Who is not? Even my father was. I grew up with movies and movies that motivated me – it really inspired me to start with boxing and start working to get in shape.

How are you involved in the film?

I had the offer to audition for the role. I auditioned with some specific scenes that they sent. Whenever I sent an audition cassette to a scene, they would tell me, "We like that. We want you to do another scene. I sent them videos of my training and photos. That helped me because they knew that I was tall, that I was tall, that I could box and that I spoke English. They liked the accent. I was the type of Eastern Europe that they were looking for. After sending audition tapes, I received a call saying that Sly wanted to use Skype with me. I'm not really one to be nervous. Adrenaline sets in and you know it's time to do what you need to do, but maybe I was a bit nervous the first five seconds when I saw it on the screen. It was just that I realized: "Oh shit, it's happening. It's really Stallone in front of me. But I kept doing what I had to do and he loved me and decided to take me by plane. I convinced Steven [Caple Jr.,], the director and here we are.

Since you already had a fighting career, were you already in perfect shape for the role? Did you have to do something more to prepare yourself physically?

Well, I had to lose weight. Even though I am very fat in front of the camera, I had to lose weight to look super shredded. Mike is naturally smaller than me and we wanted to do [our physique] look equal – as even as possible. So, as a heavyweight belt, it came to about 190, 195 pounds while I dropped 20, 25 to 225 pounds.

Was it difficult to try to lose weight?

I am very disciplined about coaching, my work and everything physical, but one thing I'm not disciplined about is my diet. We talked a lot about dieting. I had to follow a specific diet and it was difficult. I have never eaten as much as I wanted. After eating the portions that allowed me, I was always hungry all the time. It was such a process, but I managed it.

You are a former professional boxer while Jordan is only a trained film fighter. How was the experience of being in the ring with someone you knew was not a professional fighter like you?

It was interesting, really interesting. First, I must say that Mike is a good athlete in general. It adapts very quickly to specific things and is a good trait for an athlete. At first I was a little worried. Boxing is a difficult game. You can not to play boxing. It's not like basketball or any other sport. You're actually hit, so it's a tough sport. You must take a lot of punishment. Even in this type of project, you can not simulate it. You block a lot of shots to the body, to the head. Of course, everything is a matter of control, but you always feel the blows. I was worried that he was a cat, but he certainly was not. This is a real man. It would have been really embarrassing and difficult for me to deal with him if I had hit him on the ribs or something and that he had been blocking, screaming and shouting all the time. He took real blows. I tell you he took real blows and he did not say anything. He kept coming and going. It just made the job with him more inspiring because he's a real hard worker. A guy in his position who has already proven himself, I thought he might lose some of his professional ethics but it certainly was not the case. I knew I had to give 1000% because I did not want to take that chance for granted, and seeing it, a big star, doing the same thing and more, was really inspiring.

Looking at your character, it does not always seem like he wants to fight with Creed as much as his father, Ivan Drogo.

This is a good observation. This is exactly what happens.

How did you prepare to describe the dynamics of this type of father-son relationship?

When I was getting ready for the role, I had the screenplay and I was seeing scenes with Steven and I was telling him all my life. We tried to use all kinds of moments and people to connect to the scenes of the role. For example, if we talk about the relationship between my father and me, it's a beautiful relationship. It's my best friend. It's my mentor. I have a very good relationship with him. He has always been on board for everything I've done. He always said, "Do what you have to do. Do what you want. I will always support you. So, in this particular case of the relationship between Ivan and Viktor, I pulled out of my relationship with my mother. I love her too, but she always wanted something different for me and she always wanted to guide me in the way she wanted my life to be. She has always seen my life through her eyes, so we have not always been on the same length of important goals. I have drawn from this to have the right mindset for these scenes.

Should people show empathy with Viktor?

Absolutely. You know he's the bad guy because, as Rocky told Donnie, "This kid was raised in hate." So he does not know better, but in the end, Viktor is a family guy, all he wants is a family, he lost his mother and would like to find her in his life, but he knows she is different from him. not want to be around him because she loves him.It is only around him.because of celebrity, the money and the spotlight are back. [Viktor] wants to see his proud father. That's why he's fighting. He knows that his father likes it and that it may be a means of redemption for his father. He does everything that seems to make his father happy. He does not fight for money, for glory or for titles. He fights for the good things of life, of the family and it shows. I really think people will be sensitive to him.

Where does the nickname Big Nasty come from?

[Laughs] It's a childhood story. I've been boxing all my life and by the age of 12 or 13, a few friends and I have boxed in the same boxing club. After school we would always go to a friend's house [before practice] and we would wait there. A friend had an X-box and we were playing a game called Ultimate fighter and we created our own characters. For some reason, when we had to choose a nickname for the character, they chose Big Nasty for me. I'm pretty sure they did not even know what it meant at the time, but that's what they chose for me and stayed with me a little bit. I used it all my life.

It's a highly anticipated film and it's your first time. Are you ready for what happens next?

I do not think you can really prepare for that. It's a new kind of attention that follows you and you can not prepare for it. But I'm a guy who, in general, is quite humble, well grounded and, as I said before, things do not come to me very much comfortable. I do not feel worried about anything. I'm a little prepared – I think as well as I can. I do not know what's happening to me, but I have good caring parents who have my back. I have two very close brothers, one who is here with me [in the U.S.] keep an eye on me and make sure I do not become too diva or arrogant. If you have people who have your back, who really love you and who really care about you, everything is fine.

What is the next type of movie you want to do?

I do not want to make these monotonous action movies. I feel that I have so much more to give. That's why I was so happy that Steven created this character. He was a very complex character, showing a lot of emotions and heart. I want to continue with that. If it boils down to movie roles, I'd like something like Wolverine or Bane[[[[The dark night is rising, 2012], characters like that. I do not want to make monotonous movies and action movies where I'm just muscle. I want to do more. I want to show more of my abilities.