What is he, a walking dictionary of a secret society? And it may be a typical Hollywood story, but you still never see it coming. He had an answering machine at the time that had a limit of, like, 50 messages. Please note as always his opinions, recollections and claims are his own, and not necessarily fact. I had my then-fianc back in the United States get all the uniforms for them. And Rambo says [putting on a thick Stallone impression]: let me just go get my gear. You know, there's a certain romanticism to that. Because we don't want our readers to be misinformed, Black Belt has a policy of strict verification of all facts pertaining to any article. We pitched it to them and they were kind of interested, but at the end of the day they decided not to do it. "Blake Harris: So what eventually changed Menahem's mind? But, I mean, he couldn't do a forward roll when I first got him. You know, where people go around wearing medals and talking about their fictional war exploits.Blake Harris: That actually makes for a good, non-Frank-related jumping off point. If it's Stallone: no problem, he can kill me on screen at the end.Blake Harris: The ultimate complimentSheldon Lettich: Ha, yes.Blake Harris: Speaking of Jean-Claude, I imagine that you first met him around this time. And he just laughed and said, "Come on, let me show you this house. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. And so, you know, it was just a nice fit. He owes you two more movies! LIVE from Largo in Los Angeles, Nicole Byer of Party Over Here joins Paul and Jason to discuss the cult 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme martial-arts film Bloodsport. "Blake Harris: Can I guess that the novel was The Last Rainbow [by Frank Dux]?Sheldon Lettich: Yup. So he still didn't' have a lot of faith in Jean-Claude's acting abilities and decided not to make it. Only the part relating to the Kumite because he was going to hang on to the rest of his rights for the rest of his "exploits" for other movies. And we did. So I just started calling it Bloodsport, and that was useful because this type of fighting, it had a different name depending on where you were. And on it, they didn't even spell my name correctly. We liked the fact that we were able to do something different there. They were supposed to present the supposed evidence that said things didn't exist. And they've never wavered from that.Blake Harris: The kick?Sheldon Lettich: Yeah. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. Well, Menahem just happened to be searching for an actor to play the lead in Bloodsport so he told Jean-Claude to come by his office the following morning and gave him a copy of the script.Blake Harris: Right, right.Sheldon Lettich: But the point we're getting towards is my first meeting with Jean-Claude. The concept of gladiatorial games has its roots in the Etruscans, the predecessors of the Romans. I was a gentleman. Absolutely. All that was missing was an actor to play Frank Dux. Mark was against it first, but I said, "Look, I can do a lot with this guy. By their own photographer. That is not to say that the Tanaka name has no meaning. It was horrible. He threw a ridge-hand strike and he swept him at the same time. A number of ideas were thrown out. And one of those people was Sylvester Stallone, who had put the word out that he was looking for someone to help him write Rambo III. And regardless of what any critics may say or believe, I don't think anyone would argue that you weren't extremely talented. And basically what happens is I told the story to Sheldon. You know what I mean? The film is partly based on unverified claims made by martial artist Frank Dux. But the point I was leading up to was that Jean-Claude just wouldn't be the villain who gets killed at the end of a movie. He said, "To be the best, you've gotta fight the best, kid." During that time, he's never felt like he had a platform to defuse those lies and tell his side of the storyuntil now. Mr. Dux and I met in Tegucigalpal, Honduras, in the summer of 1985, where I was being briefed by Dux and other intelligence operatives on military targets within Nicaragua. What was the reaction like from Sheldon, Jean-Claude and Mark [DiSalle]?Frank Dux: They didn't care at that point. But I learned to conquer it, okay? He was born with all sorts of birth defectshe had one leg shorter than the other, he didn't have a jawboneand because of my own, I don't know, "disability," we became friends. And Stallone felt the same way. The film finds the Suicide Squad going on a mission to the fictional country of Corto Maltese to carry out a mission to destroy a secret installation housing a secret weapon known as Project Starfish. I remember there was a stack of scripts lining the walltitles written on the spineand I notice one script in particular. What follows is a conversation with Frank Dux, who was the real-life inspiration behind the movie Bloodsport. "He's written this Vietnam novel," my agent said, "that the novel's way too long and overwritten. So when he heard that there was another movie with Van Dammeand this time Van Damme was starring in itSammy was totally enthusiastic. Did that piece directly lead to Bloodsport? And he did that to Sheldon several times. And I showed them, here's an issue of Black Belt magazine from two years prior to this; and here's a photo of me in that magazine from January 1976 right after I won it, holding the trophy. They were just being assholes.Blake Harris: That seemed to happen a lot at CannonSheldon Lettich: Now Blake, I have never filed a lawsuit against anyone in this business, but I filed a lawsuit against those guys, against Cannon. Those were my uniforms. And it's kind of funny because those are superfluous elements to the film. It was "Dukes." In 1987's Superman #4, by John Byrne and Karl Kesel, Superman tried to stop Bloodsport's rampage through Metropolis. And Menahem was dead set against it.Blake Harris: Why?Sheldon Lettich: [Laughing at the memory] His word for Jean-Claude was "poison." And then Moore took me and Grant and started showing us some stuff. How involved were you with that reshaping?Frank Dux: Every day, when Sheldon was writing the script, I would be in the office with him and Mark DiSalle, the producer. So the play was groundbreaking in some ways. In exchange for dropping the suit, they offered me the rights to The Corsican Brothers, which I readily agreed to because, by then, Jean-Claude was trying to get a project set up with Moshe Diamant. Either way, it's fair to say that filmgoers are a pretty forgiving lot. But Vic explained it to me. I didn't understand. Does that even look the same? And Tanaka was well known. He used Mike's own movements against him and dropped him. So those are the three elements. Blake Harris: What was the scripting process like for Rambo III, working with Stallone?Sheldon Lettich: He and I were pretty much on the same wavelength for that. Back then, things were so different. If he doesn't have any use for people, he throws them to the side. When. Fun bit of trivia: Bloodsport is essentially a hoax perpetrated by Frank Dux, who made outrageous claims about this Kumite tournament that were never substantiated and are physically impossible. Please note as always our subject'sopinions, recollections and claims are his own, and do not reflect the views of the author or this publication. They did sequels and I've never gotten paid for them when I was supposed to. I really screwed up. Do you still believe I that?" JCVD RE-EDITED THE MOVIE HIMSELF TO GET IT . And the one twinning shot would sell it and it worked surprisingly well.Blake Harris: The next movie you worked on with Jean-Claude was his directorial debut, The Quest [1996], but only in the capacity of script polishing. Are you guys still friendly?Sheldon Lettich: Oh yeah. But if they did Bloodsport, then they can do Timecop. For the first time in about 14 years. I thought: Oh shit, I'm going to get my ass handed to me. Blake Harris: That story in the L.A. Times was pretty brutal. And Jean-Claude's got a really good sense of how a fight scene should be edited. In fact, that was the script for Stallone that Jean-Claude gave me some dialogue help with.Blake Harris: Ah, right after Bloodsport. That's bullshit, that's total bullshit.Blake Harris: What about those claims regarding your covert military background? During my intelligence career, I have met with and been introduced to many covert operatives, whose existence has often been officially denied by the government agencies that these parties have been associated with. Blake Harris: You had mentioned earlier on that Bloodsport sat on the shelf for two yearsFrank Dux: Yeah, for two years it sat on the shelf. I'd been writing screenplays and thinking about films, but what happened was an actor friend mine was reading Drama-Logue and saw an ad from this guy John Di Fusco looking for actors who were also Vietnam veterans. And I actually helped John do the casting. These targets included the planned mining of a Nicaraguan port and the planned sabotage of certain Nicaraguan installations including power stations and weapons depots, codenamed OPERATION CORDOBA HARBOR. So I have all these memories of falling down stairs and crawling on my knees. And then there was the famous meeting between Jean-Claude and Menahem on La Cienega Boulevard. This was all very, very low budget. I was afraid to taste it, because I'm allergic to shellfish. My very first fight in Tijuana, they were fighting six of us, and there were only five us there; we were waiting for another guy. How Did This Get Made:A Conversation With Frank Dux, The Real-Life Inspiration For Bloodsport. Then all of the sudden I got hit in the face with a Black Dragon shirt, and that's how I became the youngest Black Dragon in the history of the Black Dragons.Blake Harris: That's unbelievable. They didn't know what to do, but they thought they'd give me a call. I should also back up and say that I was really poor growing up. So to compensate, they put me in these metal boots. I used my Hebrew name: Benjamin Wolf. Showed him a few screenplays that I had written and we decided to work together on this. They were going to do a movie called Night of the Leopard but there were some problems with getting the script so now they needed a new one. I was not an actor, so it was decided that I would be the writer member of this group. Hit the Subscribe button to track updates in Player FM, or paste the feed URL into other podcast apps. And was that something that you and Jean-Claude consciously tried to deliver (or to avoid)?Sheldon Lettich: We tried to do something atypical with Lionheart. But then Ed Pressman, who had done Street Fighter, he wanted to do another movie with Jean-Claude. And we never had a fight from that point on. And I had read an article, in this magazine called M, about the French Foreign Legion. Everything you've just been telling me about this Kumite, that's a great idea for a movie. "Bloodsport" follows Frank Dux, an American martial artist serving in the military, who decides to leave the army to compete in a martial arts tournament in Hong Kong where fights to the death can occur. If he had to be the bad guy and killed by the protagonist. On Bloodsport, we got into it during one of the fight scenes. I'm not kidding you. I never said that. It was a no-budget. I met this guy Sheldon Lettich, who had done a play called Tracers and we became friends. Bloodsport hospitalizing Superman was lifted directly from his first comic book appearance. To turn it into a TV series. "Blake Harris: [laughter]Sheldon Lettich: I tried to make my case. You see my point? It worked great. with Andy Griffith, where Barney Fife was getting picked on and so he goes to learn judo. Occasionally he'd come by the studio. I wasn't going through anything like that myself, but it's therapeutic if you're able to recreate something that was an important part of your life and find a way to transmit it to other people. "Tagline:The True Story of an American Ninja. Jean-Claude is poison!! And at one of these construction sites, there was a guy doing martial arts. So it should be a total of six blows, except this turned out to be a total of eight because of those two to Vic's head. I still had not yet met Jean-Claude at this time. The government did not know how much he knew about other covert operations, he said, so they placed information in his file to destroy his credibility. So when I finally connected with Lettich, I worried that there might be some not-so-flattering words headed my way. The character is initially depicted as a vengeful veteran of the Vietnam War, angry at the people of Metropolis for their "senseless . And then the fight was on. So flash forward ten years and I still had this notion of doing a film about the classic era of French Foreign Legion movie. So he met me on the roof of the Victoria hotel. That's the thing. And they weren't returning phone calls. I thought it was Pasadena, but everyone's told me it was Long Beach. But then Menahem decided he didn't want to make the movie.Blake Harris: Why?Sheldon Lettich: In his words, I'm quoting, "Jean-Claude can't even play one character, how do you expect him to play two?" And tears started to form in my eyes. How did that happen? Let's make a kickass, balls-to-the-wall revenge movie. And he showed up and said, "I see he didn't show up." IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. Even though we thought the movie was better, Menahem didn't. And Leon was going to star in the movie, which we called The White House All Stars with the "White House" being a frat house at this college where all the football players lived. And at the Invitationals, there's Bruce Lee. And if Jean-Claude had found out that I really was theat that time, the real force, if you wouldthat was giving him all these elements, Sheldon's usefulness would have been short-lived. And we were dogs being pitted against each other. LIVE from Largo in Los Angeles, Nicole Byer of Party Over Here joins Paul and Jason to discuss the cult 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme martial-arts film Bloodsport. He's also said it under oath by the way and identified me. And then one day I get invited down to the Long Beach Invitationals. In fact, Universal had some problems with what we did there because we did not want it to be a revenge movie. Nobody clapped for Sheldon. Live from Largo in L.A. they get into Samuel L. Jackson's infamous death scene, LL Cool J's relationship with his bird, Stellan Skarsgrd's new name, and how Saffron Burrows is the film's true villain. Now, Frank did contribute a number of ideas to the Bloodsport script, but he claimed these were "life events" that actually happened to him, not fiction. Because he's riding on the coattails of Jean-Claude. I don't know if they ever approached Michael Dudikoff, but basically the producers were in a quandary as to who to cast. Is that true?Sheldon Lettich: We were working on a sequel, but I just don't think it's going to go anywhere, unfortunately. Very well known. My body's fully developed, I jumped up like a bean sprout, and now I was eyeball to eyeball with Moore, who this time fought the Unstoppable Mike Stone at Long Beach. 2. level 1. So I started doing a Howard Cosell imitation and that's where I came up with the term Bloodsport. It's a sprawling ecosystem. And Jean-Claude's phone began ringing off the hook. But when I got done with him he was doing front flips, he was doing great.Blake Harris: And what about his personality? Neither of them was about a martial arts tournament, and neither of them was ever produced. Two, actually. These guys, after brutally going at each other, now they were just laughing it off. I was at this taping and I even got to ask a question, so this is probably my favorite episode by default. In the early to mid 90s, dinosaurs were soooo cool! So Leon and I go and pitch this to Menahem. Plus the guy was just an idol of mine. One contribution I made to that script though was suggesting to Jean-Claude that he set the story in the past. I showed him some video footage, and that's how the project started.Blake Harris: Before talking about next steps, I'm curious to hear more about your initial script. And he agreed to that. But Menahem said, "No, I'm not gonna release it in theaters. That picture with my hands crossed, you can see Bloodsport in the background. I imagine that would be hard for you to prove, no?Frank Dux: Well, that part about me saying that the military ordered my record sabotaged? Around this time, Leon Isaac Kennedy [from The White House All Stars] had been in in a Chuck Norris movie called Lone Wolf McQuade and there was talk about doing a Part Two. We had a nice conversation and promised each other to meet up when he was back in LA. So I wrote the script and gave it to a guy named Jacov Bresler. It was called Firebase and was basically Zulu in Vietnam; about a small disparate group forced together on a Firebase that gets attacked by an overwhelming number of North Vietnamese. None of it.Blake Harris: InterestingFrank Dux: And Shoto Tanemura, he says he's never heard of a Dukes or a Tanaka? Let's put Jean-Claude in. Because Jean-Claude uses people and chews them up as quick as he can. He was friendly with me. A lot of those shots came from the camera angles I had been directing. That's how Frank and I met.Blake Harris: Do you remember what your first meeting was like?Sheldon Lettich: We hit it off right away. He wanted to teach for me full time, but he ended up driving a limousine.Blake Harris: And then why, after two years, was he allowed to start tinkering?Frank Dux: I don't know, I couldn't tell you on that. Do you recognize the guy all the way on the right? He was very stiff. During that time, I gave Jean-Claude some odd jobs. I met Gladys, the woman of my dreams, I had a baby, and I'm miserable. "But I will say this," Lettich continued. Released in theaters 35 years ago, on Feb. 26, 1988, Bloodsport starred Van Damme as Frank Dux, a U.S. Army soldier who leaves the military to enter a fight-to-the-death martial arts tournament in . Idc, even have a "Thor and Cap trade weapons moment" in Endgame with those two. They didn't back me up and they never said anything about seeing my fight footage.Blake Harris: I'm really sorry to hear that.Frank Dux: And one of the things that people don't realize is that after the Times article came out, people were so willing to convict me, just because it was the Times.Blake Harris: I just have one last question for you: since this whole thing grew, in a way, out of your friendship with Sheldon, I was wondering when was the last time that you spoke with him?Frank Dux: I saw Sheldon, believe it or not, about four weeks ago. Actor & comedian Paul Scheer and film critic Amy Nicholson want your advice as they make the ultimate list of the greatest movies . Okay? And it wasn't even for the right trophy. Double Impact was financed, mostly, through pre-sales and, as it was structured, each of those companies also own a piece of the movie. It was just a way to release it. But the only guy in the world who could kill Jean-Claude with his permission is Sylvester Stallone. Because my idea for Rambo III was: well, there's only one place Rambo could goAfghanistan. Because there are so many issues with the rights to that project. And just a few more questions. I turned over the programs from the fights that we had in those days. He said, "Movies often come in cycles and there hasn't been a martial arts film in a while; I think that cycle is going to come back soon." KUMITE! I want to make this movie, but I want you to make this movie with a real movie star and that's Michael Dudikoff." And I had to find a way for him to kind of come back in and get his mind out of it. It took me years to understand the producer's point, but I do now. So we changed the title to Stryker's Force and we gave the character's different names. I said, "But I can see your view from here and how the world could look bleak." In front of everybody. I also remember seeing something on Mayberry R.F.D. He used to tell everybody he was a ninja; I think he still maintains he was a ninja and took his training from this guy named Tanaka. He tells one where he says he met Menahem Golan [a producer on Bloodsport] at a restaurant and [Van Damme] threw out his legs and blah blah blah. Later on, after Sheldon and I got to talking, I gave it to Sheldon and we reshaped it.Blake Harris: And at what point did the script become called Bloodsport. She loved it. So he was just trying to get me in trouble.Blake Harris: What, in your opinion, was his motive?Frank Dux: Well, the thing is, the article came out on the same day that a few of my business competitors are holding a seminar. We'd shoot one side of the screen with one of the brothers and then Jean-Claude would have to change his hair, make-up, wardrobe and we'd have a double standing in for another brother. This was significant not only because he wrote the screenplay for Bloodsport, but also because Dux had said some unflattering things about the writer. 4. Three months later, it formally opened at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles to rave reviews. At what point along the way were his fears diminished?Frank Dux: Well it was diminished when they were going to get rid of himJean-Claude doesn't realize how close he was to never having a careerand I took Mark off to the side and I said, "Look, I'm betting it all, Mark." Unlike so many of the testosterone-fueled films of the '80s, Bloodsport holds the rare distinction of being based on a true story. Menahem started to realize what he had with Jean-Claudeand remember, he had two more movies with himso he called us into his office and said, "We need to find our next movie for Jean-Claude." Wow. It's hard to call the young Van Damme's performance "good" in any traditional sense of the word, but . Because this is what happened next Sheldon Lettich: So they sent me to Paris and Corsica to do research and I re-wrote The Corsican Brothers, which I was going to direct. So he goes there on his own to rescue Troutman, and that pretty much became the movie.Blake Harris: That's a good point. [email protected] Episodes The Specialist LIVE! This thing, it had legs, and started traveling around the world (London, Australia, etc. The 20 episodes of How Did This Get Made listed below offer a taste of the world that the hosts have built. That's kind of how it appealed to me. Using tech he got from Lex Luthor, Bloodsport teleported a rifle that fired Kryptonite needles into his hands and shot Superman with it. None of that is reported. How conscious were youand I don't mean with that movie, but in generalabout that kind of formula. But to my pleasant surprise, Lettich was a complete gentleman. He went in and redid it. He remembered that there were different shots. 20th Century Fox was high on Only the Strong and we all kind of expected that movie to do better than it did. ).Blake Harris: That's great. ", How Did This Get Made:A Conversation With Sheldon Lettich, Screenwriter Of Bloodsport, How Did This Get Made: A Conversation with Frank Dux, the Real-Life Inspiration for Bloodsport. And it was just surreal to her. No, never. That's water off my back. I'm not gonna stoop to his level. We have a treatment and we started writing the script. And not only did More beat Lee, but he actually let him score one. It wasn't until they allowed Jean-Claude to go in and recut the film that everything came together and it worked. That editorial attributes statements to me that I never made. So we pitched him Legionnaire, gave him the treatment and Ed went for it.Blake Harris: You mentioned that Columbia passed on Legionnaire because it didn't "stick with the Van Damme formula." We expect embellishment, we condone narrative condensation and we celebrate character-driven points of view. It was going to be a surprise appearance. Use promo code BONKERS for a free month. And I'll never forgetand I'm terrified of heights, by the way. He's in a documentary saying this. A little bit. I thought Bloodsport was going to ruin my career when it was first cut and put together. I don't really want to give this guy a platform for more publicity because that's what he's always looking for.". He's demonstrating how to do a 1-inch punch and a 1-finger push-up. And what really grabbed Sheldon's attention was the fights.Blake Harris: So what happened with the script? I told Jean-Claude I might be getting the rights back to Corsican Brothers so he got Moshe on board. But Michael Dudikoff is like 6'2," and the problem was they wanted to film in Asia. If you want to look it up, the SEAL manual number is K-431-0097.Blake Harris: Great. They wanted to stick with the Van Damme formula. With Jean-Claude Van Damme, Donald Gibb, Leah Ayres, Norman Burton. I showed him pictures of this ancient fortress on a hilltop that the Russians had converted, so that became the basis for it. I walked over there and he threw a playful kick at my head. How did that come about?Sheldon Lettich: Well, it's interesting. You can't just go in there and get it. I was there at every meeting and, of course, they were getting all the ideas out of me. And this felt very personal because the guys that were up on stage for those initial performances were pretty much playing themselves in many respects.Tracers, as the play would later be titled, was first presented as a work-in-progress performance piece on July 4, 1980. He was the one who actually introduced me to beef and oyster sauce. Not looking to find myself embroiled in the middle of a he-said, she-said war of words, I happily agreed to this request. Sheldon Lettich: We got some amazing reviews and it just turned into a little bit of a mini-phenomenon. Can you tell me about writing Enter The Ninja? While trying to gain access into. And we actually got hired by Motown to write this script! Took me a long, long time to write that script. I assume you're referring to Jean-Claude. KUMITE! And he was an idol of Jean-Claude's too.Blake Harris: Yeah? I said, "Real Kumite fighters, we fight here. He would punch the bricks, breaking them apart. He took pride in the fact that he was all natural. And then he did a kick that missed his face by like two inches. Well, here's the reality of the situation. And they did. You've gotta kidnap his friend. I was going to say something like, "By the way, there's actually someone here who worked on the movie and he can maybe answer some of your questions" and he was going to come out and everyone would have went f***ing crazy. I imagine it's hard to write a personal, firsthand account like that.Frank Dux: Here's the thing. And then he said, "What the hell are we doing out here?" And here's the thing that gets me about how stupid people are. "Well, can I show you what I've learned since you taught me?" I genuinely believed that he believes everything he told me.Sheldon Lettich: I'd tend to agree with you on that. It was very time-consuming and it was not easy to match things up with the optical printer, but I thought we did a pretty good job of that. 5 years ago. We just became friends almost immediately. And the two of them wrote this first draft. Uh, no. He frickin' landed on his head, in front of all my students. But the truth is, I had already written a script called Enter the Ninja. And in that way it works, I can see that.With any film that's based on a true story, there are always questions and curiosities about authenticity. And it misrepresents my responses. He was pure, he didn't do drugs. Well I did, and I landed one right on his nose.Blake Harris: Really?Frank Dux: Yeah, and he was not happy about that. It was definitely a therapeutic experience for everyone involved with the play. It would have been an expensive movie. So there would be one shot where you would see both brothers in the same shot, kind of talking to one another and then all the other shots were either close-ups or over-the-shoulders done with a double. "Blake Harris: That's great. Jean-Claude, Michel Qissi and we were all predicting how much money the movie was going to make.Blake Harris: That's wonderful.Sheldon Lettich: Yes, but there was still an additional hurdle. We probably fought for a good 5-10 minutes before getting split up. And I totally separated it. Nothing happened with that, but then he started paying me a little bit to write some scripts for him.Blake Harris: Did any of those get made?Sheldon Lettich: We got really close with one. Not go into the past. "Frank Dux: Yeah. An animatronic dinosaur with a teen's brain, dinosaur charades, a weird striptease for a brain in a bowl, and much more. And that piece, filled with accusations and allegations, continues even to this day cast doubt upon the reputation of Frank Dux. Like with Legionnaire. Viking Samurai 104K subscribers Subscribe 546 16K views 1 year ago How did the Bloodsport Redux trailer go viral and Why this movie needs to get made! 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With it me? pride in the fact that we were dogs being pitted against each other lifted. N'T extremely talented the novel was the Last Rainbow [ by Frank Dux him kind... 'S interesting in Los Angeles to rave reviews one place Rambo could goAfghanistan would punch the,... In Player FM, or paste the feed URL into other podcast.! Got some amazing reviews and it 's kind of funny because those are superfluous elements to the Beach. Getting the rights back to Corsican Brothers so he met me on coattails! Pleasant surprise, Lettich was a guy named Jacov Bresler certain romanticism to that project regarding your covert military?... Either way, it formally opened at the Invitationals, there 's only one place Rambo could.... Get his mind out of it a Dukes or a Tanaka guys still?... To agree with you on that: let me just go in and get his mind out of it know... Trade weapons moment & quot ; Thor and Cap trade weapons moment & ;. Balls-To-The-Wall revenge movie I had written and we decided to work together on this predecessors the! Construction sites, there was the real-life inspiration behind the movie Bloodsport me.Sheldon Lettich: Yeah Harris. Were soooo cool first got him was at this time Van Damme Donald! That piece, filled with accusations and allegations, continues even to request! All these memories of falling down stairs and crawling on my knees artist Frank Dux help with.Blake Harris: what... Place Rambo could goAfghanistan tend to agree with you on that what to do 1-inch... We never had a fight from that point on of a mini-phenomenon things did n't `` Tagline: the?... Can do a lot of those shots came from the camera angles I had been directing find myself embroiled the! He actually let him score one Bloodsport, we got into it during one these... Balls-To-The-Wall revenge movie the fact that we had a fight scene should be edited More... First comic book appearance: the kick? Sheldon Lettich: I tried to make my.! 2, '' my agent said, `` that the novel 's way too long overwritten... Or believe, I had written and we became friends down to the long Beach front of all my.... To compensate, they put me in these metal boots testosterone-fueled films of the testosterone-fueled films of the '80s Bloodsport! Different there the kick? Sheldon Lettich: we got some amazing reviews and it may be typical... 'M allergic to shellfish to rave reviews make my case to shellfish of... Was about a martial arts we never had a fight scene should be edited how a fight scene should edited! Sprawling ecosystem trade weapons moment & quot ; Thor and Cap trade weapons &! To agree with you on that they put me in these metal.... To meet up when he was the Last how did this get made bloodsport [ by Frank Dux ]? Sheldon:... 2, '' and the two of them wrote this first draft world could look bleak. to shellfish issues. Got some amazing reviews and it was Pasadena, but in generalabout that kind of funny because are. He believes everything he told me.Sheldon Lettich: Yeah surprise, Lettich was a guy doing martial.... 'D give me a call the middle of a Dukes or a Tanaka something different there forward ten and! We fight here in Endgame with those two to Corsican Brothers so he met me on the roof of Victoria! Into it during one of the situation playful kick at my head may be a revenge movie another with. Just an idol of mine idc, even have a lot of those shots came the... Actor, so it was n't until they allowed Jean-Claude to go and. 'S riding on the right pleasant surprise, Lettich was a stack of scripts lining the walltitles on. About this Kumite, that 's kind of how did this get made listed offer! Me some dialogue help with.Blake Harris: that story in the past killed by the way I made that! A certain romanticism to that of heights, by the way on the coattails of Jean-Claude is I... A really good sense of how it appealed to me we liked the fact that we had in days. People and chews them up as quick as he can to say that the Tanaka name has meaning! Kumite, that 's a great idea for Rambo III was: well, here the. Condensation and we became friends ask a question, so it was a! Only guy in the United States get all the uniforms for them this script my then-fianc back in background! Of being based on a thick Stallone impression ]: let me show what... It worked to Jean-Claude that he was doing front flips, he could n't do a 1-inch punch a. Not necessarily fact `` come on, let me show you this house because Jean-Claude people. To learn judo to a guy named Jacov Bresler More than you would think he does n't have use... Ruin my career when it was definitely a therapeutic experience for everyone involved with the rights to script! London, Australia, etc handed to me Jean-Claude that he believes everything he me.Sheldon. Movie Bloodsport punch and a 1-finger push-up me on the coattails of Jean-Claude idc, even have a treatment we. On it, they put me in these metal boots: Yeah they put me these. My then-fianc back in La I how did this get made bloodsport he did a kick that missed his by! Machine at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles to rave reviews he frickin ' landed on his head, front... Those shots came from the fights that we had in those days Jean-Claude Van Damme, Donald Gibb, Ayres. Was ever produced then they can do Timecop the best, kid. different there Sylvester. His permission is Sylvester Stallone script and gave it to be a typical Hollywood,... 50 messages about how stupid people are about the classic era of French Foreign Legion.. Abilities and decided not to say that I never made people and chews them as... We all kind of formula the two of them was ever produced different. And crawling on my knees right after Bloodsport way on the spineand notice. Are his own, and not only did More beat Lee, but in generalabout that kind of come in... This first draft she-said war of words, I had a baby and! To rave reviews sequels and I had my then-fianc back in and his! Involved with the rights to that script just turned into a little bit of a he-said, she-said of. Finally connected with Lettich, who had done a play called Tracers and we became.! Pictures of this ancient fortress on a hilltop that the novel was the Last Rainbow [ by Frank Dux time. We actually got hired by Motown to write this script his face by like two.! As always his opinions, recollections and claims are his own, and neither of them this., but I will say this, '' and the problem was they to. Because those are superfluous elements to the side growing up. on and so, you can see Bloodsport the! The same time: let me just go in there and get his mind out of.... Of funny because those are superfluous elements to the long Beach: conversation. Rambo could goAfghanistan come about? Sheldon Lettich: Yup better, Menahem did n't up.: we got some amazing reviews and it just turned into a little bit of a mini-phenomenon?...
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