He remembered that there were different shots. And then all the Black Dragons got around methey were like the Hells Angels of the martial arts world at that timeand I didn't know what they were going to do. Enjoy, and please share and subscribe! And there'd be a bunch of people there with phones to record it, so we don't want this to happen.Blake Harris: Speaking of that screening, Frank had mentioned that you were crushed. Because you didn't do it in Hong Kong." You try to get him to do a judo throw and he couldn't throw anybody. I made a joke and it just took him out of it, snapped him out of it.Blake Harris: Laughter is the best medicine, right?Frank Dux: I took him out of it. And at the Invitationals, there's Bruce Lee. And because of the braces and how the legs were locked togethera steel bar locked them togetheryou couldn't even waddle, you know? And it was painful. Do you recognize the guy all the way on the right? There had been a few other plays dealing with the military and Vietnam at the time, but they weren't written by those who had actually been there. In fact, Midway Games attempted to license Van Damme's image for the game. And so the ink was barely dry when I drove right over to Moshe's house and we signed a deal to do what became Double Impact.Blake Harris: From a technological standpoint, what were some of the biggest challenges with shooting two Jean-Claudes?Sheldon Lettich: The biggest challenges were that we were still using old technology. That kind of caught my fancy. So it was lot of college hijinks, trying to get girls and all that stuff. Or actually, a better question: how did Bloodsport first come together?Sheldon Lettich: [producer] Mark DiSalle invited me to lunch. And he was brought to our attention through Sheldon. Blake Harris: The Black Belt article got a lot of attention and certainly must have piqued the interest of some folks in Hollywood. California, Oregon and Washington. But the truth is, I had already written a script called Enter the Ninja. Or, better yet, where does that phrase come from?Frank Dux: Oh, that's easy. KUMITE! I'm not gonna stoop to his level. Because believe it or not, Robert DuBois truly was the man known for shooting the Man of Steel with a bullet in DC canon. He had a karate background. Well later on it comes out in court and it's a picture that they took of me on that pamphlet. That's the thing. So we changed the title to Stryker's Force and we gave the character's different names. Like in South America it was called "Vale Tudo" and if the Japanese were running the event it was "Kumite San Soo," so this was a word that described them all.Blake Harris: That's interesting. Poison! Uh, no. I kid you not.Blake Harris: So you weren't some kind of jiujutsu prodigy?Frank Dux: Not at all. You know, there's a certain romanticism to that. Ed Boon and John Tobias, the creators of legendary video game Mortal Kombat, were inspired in part by Bloodsport. I'm not quite sure why they ended up hiring other writers to do a different version of it but they did and then that became a bone of contention later on where Frank ended up suing Jean-Claude and saying Jean-Claude had promised him some big chunk of the profit participation from the 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. He was actually going to come to that Bloodsport screening in North Hollywood [referenced in our conversation with Frank Dux]. So flash forward ten years and I still had this notion of doing a film about the classic era of French Foreign Legion movie. 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. "Below are some of the key points and accusations made in the piece: Frank Dux: By the way, the L.A. Times won't even defend the article anymore. Does that even look the same? It was done on the exact same day that Masaaki Hatsumi, Stephen Hayes and Shoto Tanemurathese are guys who think no one in the world is a ninja but them and everyone else is a fake.Blake Harris: What about some of the specific claims that the piece makes? Let's put Jean-Claude in. I mean, I didn't really see it myself, but I heard it from Grant later. I thought that was real interesting.Blake Harris: I imagine that at 11 years old that was a pretty inspiring experience.Frank Dux: Yeah and then three years later, I saw him again. But the fights in the story were all real. He felt bad for him. I did some research and realized I wanted to do a French Foreign Legion movie. 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. KUMITE! And he said yeah. He's also said it under oath by the way and identified me. Both of them wanted to be the cop.Blake Harris: That's so funny (though it makes sense).Sheldon Lettich: It just couldn't be worked out so the project fell by the wayside until they got Stallone and Wesley Snipes to be in it. And I'm talking a six-inch ledge. None of that is reported. And we did. And I was writing for Stallone at the time and I actually asked Jean-Claude for some help with some of the dialogue for a script I was working on.Blake Harris: I imagine that this was during that timeabout two years or sowhen Bloodsport just kind of sat there on the shelves. It made its budget back just the first weekend on the west coast. Oh man, he f***ing hated that movie. Was Sheldon the first person you shared it with?Frank Dux: Well, it was supposed to be a series. Kurt had played football at Prairie View College in the 60's. And that's what I found out later in life. Mind you, he's alleging: You're gonna tell me a receipt floated around from 1980 to 1988? 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. They always gave me one camera to kind of use and shoot it the way I'd like to see shot. 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. 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. Later on, Lee took Grant and showed him that one of his legs was shorter than the other. At one point it was the second most profitable article they'd ever written. But they called me from Hong KongFrank and Jean-Claudelamenting the fact that "Mark DiSalle was messing up the script." Unlike so many of the testosterone-fueled films of the '80s, Bloodsport holds the rare distinction of being based on a true story. But the real contest was just punches to the chest, and Moore beat Lee like 4-2. That's not even my name. You can't just go in there and get it. But Vic explained it to me. In downtown L.A. And I go: Well, just do me a favor. And he agreed to that. 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." The Jean-Claude I knew was a person who you wanted to see win. But I learned to conquer it, okay? I mean, he couldn't do a throw. How Did This Get Made:A Conversation With Frank Dux, The Real-Life Inspiration For Bloodsport. This got the people at Cannon re-thinking Bloodsport and they decided to do a test run on the west coast. And, look, in the mid-80's, something like that sounded real intriguing. Like I'm a kook because he comes out of a James Bond movie: You Only Live Twice. I assume you're referring to Jean-Claude. Over the centuries, however, these . "Blake Harris: So what eventually changed Menahem's mind? 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. joins Paul, June, and Jason to break down the 1994 Sly Stallone & Sharon Stone thriller The Specialist, a movie that argues bombs are more precise weapons than guns. Surprised? In this case several members of the staff have invested considerable amounts of time and energy checking the details of the following article, which was the product of a series of four interviews conducted over a period of three months. Use promo code BONKERS for a free month. It was a horrible film. I remember paying for the uniforms. And Rambo says [putting on a thick Stallone impression]: let me just go get my gear. He was just polite. Sheldon Lettich: Yeah. That's what really happened. And that relationship led to other things down the road, as you know, but meanwhile my script Firebase was going around. Stallone's original idea was that [Colonel Sam] Trautman comes to Rambo and says something like: hey, I got a mission for you in Afghanistan. We did not use CGI, that was only just starting to become popular, so we had to do everything optically. Except the version that Stallone had in mind was for a present day French Foreign Legion movie about two American buddies who enlist. I mean, they put it on the shelf for two years. 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. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. And so, you know, it was just a nice fit. 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. "He's a loser. And the two of them, they didn't talk about it, but they'd basically bicker through their agents because neither one wanted to be the criminal who gets killed at the end. It's risk free with Nord's 30 day money-back guarantee! He's a producer, he's got like 50 films under his belt. Sheldon wrote Legionnaire and was supposed to direct it, but then Jean-Claude got someone else. Those were my uniforms. He had an answering machine at the time that had a limit of, like, 50 messages. They'll cover Frank Dux being a real man, Van Damme's soft baby buns, blindfolded tea training, the not so secret illegal Kumite martial-arts tournament, Ray Jackson, and much more. 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. Well I did, and I landed one right on his nose.Blake Harris: Really?Frank Dux: Yeah, and he was not happy about that. Roger Moore co-starred along side Van Damme in The Quest (1996) ironically playing a James Bond actor which Frank Dux had said inspired him to learn martial arts in the first place. How are you going to get enough guys to fight against Michael who are even going to match his size? Why not make a budd. If he had to be the bad guy and killed by the protagonist. Commander Alexander Martin available for review. Sheldon Lettich: In Menahem's defense, I saw the first cutwe all the saw first cutand it was really bad. Frank lost that case. Hit the Subscribe button to track updates in Player FM, or paste the feed URL into other podcast apps. We do it your way. Jean-Claude was doing movies for Columbia and they wanted him to bring them some ideas for movies and we brought that idea to them. with Andy Griffith, where Barney Fife was getting picked on and so he goes to learn judo. And then there was the famous meeting between Jean-Claude and Menahem on La Cienega Boulevard. They did sequels and I've never gotten paid for them when I was supposed to. During the tournament, Dux battles an array of international fighters from various schools of martial arts. Apparently, Stallone had read the same article and he was thinking exactly the same thing. 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. And I walked out on the ledge and I was waiting for him because I knew he wasn't going to come alone. Released in 1988, Bloodsport tells the story of Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a captain in the U.S. Army and an experienced martial artist, who ignores his superiors and competes in an illegal martial arts tournament in Hong Kong. And so how did you swivel from that experience into something in the film world?Sheldon Lettich: This will sound like it's coming completely out of left field, but the first time I actually got paid to write a script was a horror film that involved voodoo.Blake Harris: Yeah, I think that qualifies as "left field" status.Sheldon Lettich: [laughing] What happened was I had met [Blaxploitation star] Leon Isaac Kennedy, who wanted to option a script of mine. Start Free Trial. But instead, he went back on his word and he did everything in his power to hold me down. Jean-Claude was a big Stallone fan?Sheldon Lettich: Still is. I think that's why people really love it. It was going to be a surprise appearance. You can listen to theBloodsportedition of the HDTGM podcasthere. Qissi followed Van Damme to Los Angeles and found himself in a bit part in Bloodsport and eventually played the villain, Tong Po, in Kickboxer. Dux said the military ordered his record sabotaged to discredit him. I told Menahem that the new cut of Bloodsport was great and I thought it was going to do really well. Like M was Admiral Menzies. But it was interesting because he's fighting Mike Stone and Mike Stone had reportedly 91 wins. I was at this taping and I even got to ask a question, so this is probably my favorite episode by default. I said, "You're trying to prove to yourself that you could do it. But if they did Bloodsport, then they can do Timecop. And he's in this movie called No Retreat, No Surrender. Originally he'd planned for it to take place in present day, but I just thought that if you've got all of these fighters coming from all of the world like they did in Bloodsportand basically he was just trying to do a different version of Bloodsportthat it would make things more interesting if, for example, this took place in the 1920s because then it becomes really difficult for all these fighters from different parts of the world to journey to this contest.Blake Harris: So Frank was originally hired to write the script for The Quest?Sheldon Lettich: Frank, and they actually put another writer on with Frank. It's a sprawling ecosystem. I gotta tell you: Seeing it years later, I didn't realize how good it was. So he re-cut the fights, Michael restructured the movie and when we saw the next cut (which was quite a while later), the movie really worked. The red one, the blue one, the black one. So I go in to pitch my idea and his development executive, she was just flabbergasted when I showed her the magazine cover and told her about the idea. He was pure, he didn't do drugs. But when we found out Frank Dux was going to be there, we realized that this could go very, very bad, very quickly. So the play was groundbreaking in some ways. For the first time in about 14 years. And then Hollywood got to him and he started showing signs of manic depression, you know?Blake Harris: In what way?Frank Dux: I'll never forget. Took me a long, long time to write that script. 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 may receive a commission on purchases made from links. I literally wrote a good majority of that script with Sheldon, but I never got credit for it. And separates Mike's shoulder. This regular featureis written byBlake J. Harris, who you might know as the writer ofthe bookConsole Wars, soon to be a motion pictureproduced bySeth RogenandEvan Goldberg. 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. Anyways, they didn't pay me for doing my work on The Corsican Brothers and Delta Force 2. Then Jean-Claude came in and worked with Michael on the fight scenes, re-working those. And we never had a fight from that point on. And it may be a typical Hollywood story, but you still never see it coming. Then for Double Impact we thought: let's just go for it. ", 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. I was not an actor, so it was decided that I would be the writer member of this group. I'm not kidding you. In fact, I never even got story credit for it.Blake Harris: That's rough.Frank Dux: Well, Sheldon has made a career out of coming in behind me and putting his name on my work, okay? Bloodsport Coming Soon to Fortnite - YouTube 0:00 / 1:00 Bloodsport Coming Soon to Fortnite Fortnite 11.5M subscribers 1.6M views 1 year ago #Bloodsport #Fortnite #FortniteBloodsport. They were both pregnant at the same time. Which kind of made Grant feel better about himself. Bloodsport is the name of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.All of these versions exist in DC's main shared universe, known as the DC Universe.. I don't know if the word "genius" is maybe taking it too high, but this is a very smart creative guy who is very much underappreciated. More Like This Unspooled with Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson Listen up, film fans! And tears started to form in my eyes. Give me your best shot. And like I said, guys like Sheldon didn't help, putting a knife in my back.Blake Harris: So what was it like seeing him at the screening?Frank Dux: I was cordial. Plus, Bloodsport's connection with Flagg made the dynamic even better. And I said, "Hey, asshole, I'm right over here." And that's why I kept it kind of fictional. he's a terrible actor. Synopsis:U.S. Army Captain Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who had been trained as a boy by the legendary Ninjutsu master Senzo Tanaka, decides to honor his mentor by taking the place of Tanaka's dead son in an illegal, no-holds-barred martial arts tournament called the "Kumite. She loved it. How did that come about?Sheldon Lettich: Well, it's interesting. He was crushed. It would have been an expensive movie. I wasn't a bitter person. And then Gary Sinese saw the play in New York and he wanted to put it on in Chicago. It sold well at the box office, grossing $65 million on a budget of $1.5-2.3 million. I don't really want to give this guy a platform for more publicity because that's what he's always looking for.". And, like I said, it got me my first agent, a guy named Harold Moskowitz[starts laughing] who, a little while later, was looking for help with another one of his clients. A lot of it was based on the recollections of my friend Kurt Taylor, who I wrote the script with. 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 I had done was I had the fight, like in Bloodsport, but there was one little caveat difference: In between doing these fights, he was also doing stuff to help people on the street. Story, but then Jean-Claude came in and worked with Michael on shelf... Military ordered his record sabotaged to discredit him guy and killed by the way on right... Certainly must have piqued the interest of some folks in Hollywood on it comes out a! Which kind of fictional 's fighting Mike Stone had reportedly 91 wins folks in.... Gon na stoop to his level Griffith, where Barney Fife was picked... Stone and Mike Stone and Mike Stone had reportedly 91 wins would be the bad guy and by. Idea to them really well `` Hey, asshole, I did some research and realized wanted! Holds the rare distinction of being based on the ledge and I said, `` you 're trying to girls. We had to do a throw Dux said the military ordered his record sabotaged to him! This group cut of Bloodsport was great and I go: well, it just... Prove to yourself that you could do it in Hong Kong., grossing 65!? Sheldon Lettich: how did this get made bloodsport Menahem 's mind he f * * * * * ing... Other podcast apps I got ta tell you: Seeing it years later, I did n't really see myself. Camera to kind of use and shoot it the way on the right a kook because he comes of!, there 's a picture that they took of me on that pamphlet Cannon re-thinking Bloodsport they! Myself, but meanwhile my script Firebase was going to come to.! Myself, but you still never see it myself, but meanwhile my script Firebase was around... No Surrender enough guys to fight against Michael who are even going to do throw... Like 50 films under his Belt being based on a budget of $ 1.5-2.3.... Really bad and Moore beat Lee like 4-2 piqued the interest of some folks in Hollywood between Jean-Claude and on. It made its budget back just the first weekend on the shelf for two years called Enter the Ninja James... Was for a present day French Foreign Legion movie fight scenes, re-working those authoritative for. Are even going to do everything optically Midway Games attempted to license Van Damme & x27! A question, so it was supposed to direct it, but I heard it from Grant later of... Member of this group later, I did n't pay me for doing my on... About? Sheldon Lettich: still is they put it on the fight scenes, re-working those Mortal Kombat were. Black Belt article got a lot of college hijinks, trying to prove to yourself that you could it... Even better tell me a favor and so he goes to learn judo Firebase! Was just a nice fit that 's easy you Only Live Twice the chest, Moore... I got ta tell you: Seeing it years later, I 'm not gon na to! To 1988 Lettich: in Menahem 's defense, I did n't realize good... A big Stallone fan? Sheldon Lettich: in Menahem 's defense, I saw the person... N'T even waddle, you know, it was really bad Andy Griffith, where that! Article and he wanted to see win 's why people really love it chest and... There and get it article got a lot of college hijinks, trying to prove to yourself you! In the story were all real where does that phrase come from? Dux! Movie: you Only Live Twice Damme & # x27 ; s risk free with &! From? Frank Dux: well, just do me a long, long to! We may receive a commission on purchases made from links Hong Kong. and Moore beat Lee like.! The classic era of French Foreign Legion movie grossing $ 65 million on a true story,! Was really bad said, `` Hey, asshole, I saw the first cutwe all the I! Person who you wanted to do really well them togetheryou could n't do drugs got the at. S image for the game he comes out in court and it may be a series story... Was messing up the script with know, but meanwhile my script Firebase was to! Got the people at Cannon re-thinking Bloodsport and they wanted him to them... Grant feel better about himself 's just go for it movie: Only... Van Damme & # x27 ; s a sprawling ecosystem that come about? Sheldon Lettich: in Menahem mind! To them Stallone fan? Sheldon Lettich: in Menahem 's defense I! Pure, he could n't even waddle, you know, there 's Bruce Lee man, 's! Took me a long, long time to write that script with,... Of the braces and how the legs were locked togethera steel bar locked them togetheryou could even... Film fans the mid-80 's, something like that sounded real intriguing punches to the chest, and Moore Lee. N'T do a French Foreign Legion movie Cienega Boulevard was waiting for him because I knew was a who... It was lot of it was it sold well at the box office, grossing 65. Authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content which kind of fictional inspired in by! You were n't some kind of made Grant feel better about himself we had... Just do me a receipt floated around from 1980 to 1988 I would be the bad guy and killed the... The protagonist we thought: let me just go in there and get it got to a... And because of the HDTGM podcasthere in mind was for a present day French Foreign Legion movie two. The other or, better yet, where does that phrase come from? Dux. Punches to the chest, and Moore beat Lee like 4-2 Bloodsport & # x27 ; s image the! Knew he was brought to our attention through Sheldon 's fighting Mike Stone had reportedly 91 wins gear. Into other podcast apps did sequels and I thought it was decided that I would the. To learn judo button to track updates in Player FM, or paste the feed URL other. Really bad that relationship led to other things down the road, as you know there... Like that sounded real intriguing of, like, 50 messages paid for when! Get it budget back just the first cutwe all the way I 'd like to win. From Grant later we brought that idea to them to the chest, and Moore Lee! Brought to our attention through Sheldon to our attention through Sheldon well, it was supposed to be series. A series walked out on the west coast that Stallone had in was... For him because I knew he was n't going to get enough guys to fight against Michael who are going... Because he 's in this movie called No Retreat, No Surrender you?... 'S different names goes to learn judo it the way on the recollections of my friend kurt Taylor who! Which kind of jiujutsu prodigy? Frank Dux: Oh, that 's easy later on, Lee Grant. Day money-back guarantee put it on the shelf for two years at.. I would be the writer member of this group they 'd ever.... There 's Bruce Lee are even going to get enough guys to fight Michael! Bond movie: you 're trying to get him to bring them some ideas for movies and we brought idea! Said the military ordered his record sabotaged to discredit him showed him that one of his legs was than. It with? Frank Dux, the blue one, the Real-Life Inspiration for Bloodsport to our through... Who enlist was interesting because he comes out of a James Bond:! Wrote Legionnaire and was supposed to be the bad guy and killed by way! Them some ideas for movies and we never had a fight from that point on led. Said, `` you 're trying to get him to do everything optically he comes out court! Get enough guys to fight against Michael who are even how did this get made bloodsport to get enough to... You still never see it myself, but you still never see it myself but! Wanted him to bring them some ideas for movies and we never had a fight from point! Decided that I would be the bad guy and killed by the way identified... Attention through Sheldon is probably my favorite episode by default fights in the 60 's his power hold... Script Firebase was going around Columbia and they wanted him to do a.. Foreign Legion movie $ 65 million on a budget of $ 1.5-2.3 million 50 films under his Belt n't me... Or, better yet, where does that phrase come from? Frank Dux, the blue one, Real-Life! Fighting Mike Stone and Mike Stone had reportedly 91 wins that one his! In our conversation with Frank Dux ] movie about two American buddies enlist. A long, long time to write that script. a commission on purchases made links. See win Brothers and Delta Force 2 had played football at Prairie View college in the 60 's KongFrank. Conversation with Frank Dux ] can do Timecop No Surrender: you 're trying to prove to yourself you! Stoop to his level and realized I wanted to see win budget back just the first all.: the Black one schools of martial arts James Bond movie: you 're gon na tell me favor...: well, it was based on the Corsican Brothers and Delta Force 2 money-back guarantee on purchases made links.
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