Alongside Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, and Michael B. Jordan, Romanian boxer, actor, and fitness model Florian Munteanu joined the cast of the sports drama “Creed II” (2018).
Picking up the story from “Creed” (2015) and fast forwarding one generation from “Rocky IV” (1985), in this eighth installment of the Rocky film series Florian Munteanu plays Ivan Drago’s son, Viktor, who is pitted against Adonis Creed.
The link between these movies is brilliant: the sons of two former rivals fight each other for glory and legacy. Viktor Drago (whose father, Ivan Drago, killed Apollo Creed), will now fight Adonis Creed (who is being trained by his late father’s friend Rocky Balboa).
In this article, you’ll find out the top 10 facts about Florian “Big Nasty” Munteanu, the Romanian star of “Creed II”.
1. HOLLYWOOD, HERE I COME!
“Creed II” was Florian Munteanu’s Hollywood debut, but not his debut as an actor. In 2016 he played in “Bogat,” a bilingual German-Romanian film shot in Munich.
2. ROMANIAN WITH GERMAN ROOTS
Florian Munteanu was born in 1990 in Germany and holds dual citizenship, Romanian-German. He studied Sports, Media and Event Management at the University of Munich from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2014.
3. A FAMILY OF ATHLETES
Florian Munteanu’s passion for boxing and fitness comes from his father who was a former professional boxer. It was his father who inspired Florian from a very young age to get involved in sports.
4. SHOW ME THE MONEY!
Florian Munteanu is represented by The Gersh Agency and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. His wealth is estimated at $500,000 and is the brand ambassador for SuperKombat, a fight organization based in Bucharest, Romania.
5. REACHNG FAME
At 6’4” and 235 lbs, Florian Munteanu is an imposing figure. He was featured on the front cover of both Muscle & Fitness (in October 2018) and, alongside Dolph Lundgren, on Men’s Health cover (in December 2018.)
6. “BIG NASTY”
Florian Munteanu hits the gym every day, and when he is training for a specific event, he is known to follow a strict workout and meal regimen. Unsurprisingly, his imposing size has earned him the friendly moniker “Big Nasty” which is also his handle on Instagram (where he has almost 500.000 followers).
7. MR. PERFECTIONIST
Apart from his native language, Romanian, and the language he studied in, German, Florian Munteanu is fluent in English too, as expected from anyone who is aiming high in Hollywood. But did you know that for “Creed II,” Florian has also learned Russian?
This is what he confessed in an interview promoting “Creed II”: “When I do something, I want to do it perfectly.” Although, the pronunciation of the Russian language was a real challenge, Florian worked hard on his Russian lines. “But, I think, in the end I nailed it.”
8. LOVE OF PIZZA
Florian Munteanu’s favourite cheat meal is pizza and, as of October 2018, he doesn’t have to ever worry about buying one. Domino’s Pizza Romania has made him a brand ambassador and promised him free pizza for life!
9. THROWING A REAL PUNCH
In the same interview promoting “Creed II”, Florian Munteanu admits getting carried away while shooting the first boxing scene with Michael B. Jordan and actually landing a real left hook!
“I was so in the zone, that I kind of forgot that it’s not a real boxing match. So the first punch was a left hook… So I was coming towards him and I was so much in the zone that I punched him for real.”
In a Fox 5 interview, Michael B. Jordan had this to say about Florian’s punches: “The guy has some muscle, he’s got some heat behind his punches”
10. THE BOXING “CONTROVERSY”
The moment Sylvester Stallone announced that Viktor Drago will be played by Florian Munteanu, online sites have been referring to him as a “professional heavyweight boxer”. This has sparked a bit of a controversy on boxing forums where users seem to find it hard to locate any record of his previous fights. While some have quickly jumped to rash conclusions saying he is a “fraud”, let’s not forget that he can box and he has the training. Whether or not the media have done their homework when reporting the news, that’s a different story.
Anyway, “Trust me, you don’t want to get a left hook from me,” said Florian.
#11 – He wasn’t always sure he would play the part
Florian wasn’t always 100% onboard with the role. It interestingly took an hour-long Skype call with Sylvestor Stalone before he agreed to play the part. Florian has come out and said that when Stalone is on the other end of the phone call, how can you say no? There is no faulting that logic, who could turn down the man that knocked out Drago?
#12 – Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day
Breakfast, for most people, is the most important meal of the day. Your energy for the morning and most of the afternoon comes from what you eat for breakfast. So yes, for most people, breakfast is the most important meal. But, this isn’t quite the case for Florian though. He eats 5 full meals a day, multiple smaller ones and on top of that, he is always snacking. He does so much exercise that he needs to eat a full meal every 3 or so hours. During those 3-hour blocks, he may even eat one or two smaller meals. This doesn’t even take into account his snacks or his protein shakes.
#13 – Milk makes your bones strong
When you were growing up you may have heard constantly that milk will make you grow big and strong, milk will make your bones strong, milk is great for your teeth, etc. This is all true. Florian knows this and has taken it to another level. He drinks insane quantities of milk every day. For breakfast, with his cereal, he has 500ml of milk. For those of you in the USA, that’s the equivalent to 17 ounces of milk on his breakfast. Then you have to consider just how much milk he drinks with his protein shakes. He also drinks milk with dinner, just in case you didn’t think he had enough during the rest of the day.
#14 – 1200 meter sprint
Part of Florian’s workout regime is the 1200 meter sprint. This is almost 4000 feet. The reason this is so interesting is because of just how far that is. Even sprinters who specialize in the 1200 meters don’t practice running 1200 meters that often. It is so draining for your body and mind. Most of the time, gym rats who are dedicated to building muscle mass neglect cardio somewhat, considering it a waste of time. Florian has taken that completely the other direction and started doing huge amounts of cardio.
#15 – Shake Shack
Shake Shack is pretty delicious, anyone who’s been there will tell you that. Florian must also agree that it is delicious considering at one point he was spending $400 a week there. This was his treat for himself. Once the movie had mostly finished shooting, all the training montages were out of the way, he finally had some freedom to eat junk and pounced at the chance.
Conclusion
As you can see, Florian Munteanu is a pretty unique guy. He is equally gifted academically as he is physically. Not many people are as diversely talented as him, nor can many people afford to spend $400 a week on Shake Shack. I think everyone can agree that after the work he put into looking like he did in Creed 2, Florian deserves to eat however he likes from now on.
“Creed II” was released on the big screen on November 21, 2018 and it was a big hit with all Rocky fans, especially those in Romania. “Creed” earned Sylvester Stallone an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance and earned over $173 million at the box office. “Creed II”, with its amazing cast will deliver raked in over $214 million at the box office and holds an approval rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my Romanian Hub YouTube Channel. In that way you won’t miss the next episode. Also, I have daily Romanian Language Mini-Lessons on Facebook and Twitter. If you found this lesson useful, consider supporting Romanian Hub on Patreon.
Ceau. This is Mihnea, signing off from Beijing.
Bine, Florian.
Congrats to him! He did an amazing job!