 In 2007 , Lundgren directed and starred in the Mongolia @-@ based action adventure , Diamond Dogs . Lundgren portrays the character of Xander Ronson , a mercenary hired by a group of American fortune hunters to act as their guide and bodyguard , while they search for a priceless Buddhist artifact deep within the Chinese wilderness . They get more than they bargained for , however , as they come face to face with Russian mercenaries also after the artifact . The film , a Canadian @-@ Chinese production , was shot on location in Inner Mongolia . Later in 2007 , Lundgren wrote , directed and starred in Missionary Man alongside Charles Solomon Jr .. Described as a " modern western " by Lundgren , Dolph plays a lone , bible @-@ preaching stranger named Ryder who comes into a small Texas town on his 1970 's Harley @-@ Davidson motorcycle to attend the funeral of his good friend J.J. , a local Native American carpenter , only to later get mixed up in a series of brawls with a local gang . According to Lundgren , it had long been a desire of his to direct a western , having long been a fan of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne , yet he did not want to spend the time and money building an old western town and hiring horses , so decided to set it in modern times with a motorbike instead of entering the town on a horse in the manner than Clint Eastwood would . Lundgren 's co @-@ writer , Frank Valdez 's wife 's brother happened to be a notable actor working in Texas and invited Lundgren 's team to shoot there . The film was shot on location in Waxahachie , a southern suburb of Dallas and was produced by Andrew Stevens and it was specially screened at the 2008 AFI Dallas Film Festival . 
