I didn't understand. Why don't you go check it out?" He was very stiff. Over the show's decade-long run, they've covered a lot of. Jean-Claude was a big Stallone fan?Sheldon Lettich: Still is. He frickin' landed on his head, in front of all my students. 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. "Blake Harris: That's great. And he just laughed and said, "Come on, let me show you this house. So he started taking me to construction sites where I could get work. 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! I mean, I didn't really see it myself, but I heard it from Grant later. So on Lionheart, I went up where [Jean-Claude] was standing on the ledge of the building, doing what I had done that he was afraid to do in Hong Kong. I never said that. And then Gary Sinese saw the play in New York and he wanted to put it on in Chicago. By Earwolf, Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas. So he met me on the roof of the Victoria hotel. What follows is a conversation with Frank Dux, who was the real-life inspiration behind the movie Bloodsport. And I could see he was really contemplating it. Bloodsport is a 1988 American martial arts film directed by Newt Arnold, and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Donald Gibb, Leah Ayres, and Bolo Yeung. And Jean-Claude's phone began ringing off the hook. ).Blake Harris: That's great. 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. So we had a number of people come to my apartment; John would test them out for their acting abilities and we would also try to determine if they were for real.Blake Harris: In what sense?Sheldon Lettich: Oh, I just meant we'd try to determine if they were really Vietnam veterans. Does that even look the same? And he ends up doing a test of speed with this guy named Vic Moore. So he still didn't' have a lot of faith in Jean-Claude's acting abilities and decided not to make it. Jean-Claude Van Damme." And I said, "If you're gonna go, just don't pull me with you." So I wrote the script and gave it to a guy named Jacov Bresler. You can listen to theBloodsportedition of the HDTGM podcasthere. Fights don't go down like that." So Frank and I go to a theater and we were both blown away by Jean-Claude. California, Oregon and Washington. It took me years to understand the producer's point, but I do now. And that relationship led to other things down the road, as you know, but meanwhile my script Firebase was going around. 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. 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. howdidthisgetmade@earwolf.com Episodes The Specialist LIVE! 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. Look, I take people at face value because I'm not a bulls***ter. Well, here's the reality of the situation. 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. And a lot of pain, I guess, made me fight. 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. It was also seen by Viacom. No, never. But what's interesting is that after the fight, I see Norris signing a program for Moore. It's the amazing tale of Frank Dux, a Caucasian martial artist who fought in (and won) a ruthless secret tournament that's held only once every five years. But the only guy in the world who could kill Jean-Claude with his permission is Sylvester Stallone. He kept saying, "Jean-Claude is poison!" And I said, "Jean-Claude, that's bullshit. You know, there's a certain romanticism to that. Double Impact was financed, mostly, through pre-sales and, as it was structured, each of those companies also own a piece of the movie. Sometimes we get answers to questions like these, and other times we do not. Especially when it comes to the military. Hit the Subscribe button to track updates in Player FM, or paste the feed URL into other podcast apps. "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. 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. 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! Yet with Bloodsport, this was not the case. It made its budget back just the first weekend on the west coast. What was the reaction like from Sheldon, Jean-Claude and Mark [DiSalle]?Frank Dux: They didn't care at that point. Nobody clapped for Sheldon. And he's in this movie called No Retreat, No Surrender. You want to fight, let's fight?" Because believe it or not, Robert DuBois truly was the man known for shooting the Man of Steel with a bullet in DC canon. What made you such an extraordinary fighter?Frank Dux: Well, you know what? How Did This Get Made is a companion to the podcastHow Did This Get MadewithPaul Scheer, Jason MantzoukasandJuneDiane Raphaelwhich focuses on movies. Armed with a gun that fires Kryptonite needles, Bloodsport nearly succeeded in his mission to eliminate the Man of Steel, but ultimately failed. This is like 1979 and he wanted to put together some kind of theatrical piece about Vietnam veterans. 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. He's demonstrating how to do a 1-inch punch and a 1-finger push-up. 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. We're 60 stories in the air, I'm not kidding you. 2. level 1. Then he said, "It's my movie too and I want what's best for the film! So when I finally connected with Lettich, I worried that there might be some not-so-flattering words headed my way. He didn't like it. And then one day I get invited down to the Long Beach Invitationals. He felt bad for him. He had a chance to read them. 8. He didn't know what to think. Is that true?Sheldon Lettich: We were working on a sequel, but I just don't think it's going to go anywhere, unfortunately. And we made money on that film. You try to get him to do a judo throw and he couldn't throw anybody. If they'd actually served. And it was painful. 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. Not go into the past. How conscious were youand I don't mean with that movie, but in generalabout that kind of formula. To my face he's pretending to be my best buddy, but behind my back he's doing everything in his power to undermine me in my career and take credit for my work.Blake Harris: I'm really sorry to hear that.Frank Dux: And that's a typical Hollywood story, right? For the first time in about 14 years. The Origins of Gladiatorial Games. And he was friendly to me. Nobody clapped or wanted to have their picture taken with you. But Norris was the one, I think, who they declared as the winner. 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 want to make this movie, but I want you to make this movie with a real movie star and that's Michael Dudikoff." Was Sheldon the first person you shared it with?Frank Dux: Well, it was supposed to be a series. And it's kind of funny because those are superfluous elements to the film. Do you still believe I that?" And then he did a kick that missed his face by like two inches. Three months later, it formally opened at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles to rave reviews. On May 1, 1988, just over two months after Bloodsport hit theaters, John Johnson of the L.A. Times published this editorial:NINJA: Hero or Master Fake?Others Kick Holes in Fabled Past of Woodland Hills Martial Arts TeacherAs the title suggests, the piece isn't too kind to Dux. with Andy Griffith, where Barney Fife was getting picked on and so he goes to learn judo. That movie's terrible; I'm putting it straight to video. Bloodsport was produced by Cannon Films and released by Warner Bros. on 26 February 1988. So cool, in fact, that now we have a professional basketball team called The Raptors and no one raised an eyebrow about why a team from Tornoto, Canada would be named that. And we actually got hired by Motown to write this script! 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. It was a moment where you have to sit back and realize that sometimes when you think something's wrong, everything is going right. I think what happened in reality was more interesting, but you have a limited amount of time to tell a story and it has to resonate with the audience, you know? And we ended up settling. That it would be helpful and therapeutic.Blake Harris: And was it? And that's pretty much what Double Impact isBlake Harris: I read online that you might be writing a sequel to Double Impact? He had an answering machine at the time that had a limit of, like, 50 messages. KUMITE! And so we had a great time. You see my point? It was a best of three, that's the way I recollect it. I felt bad for him.Blake Harris: Actually, if you don't mind, I have one more question for you.Frank Dux: Sure.Blake Harris: We've spent all of this time talking about your life as a fighter and portrayals of your life as a fighter. And here it is, years later, I got to go with her and take it to the movies. I don't know if they ever approached Chuck Norris, but Chuck didn't seem right. Let's put Jean-Claude in. In fact we did the casting at my apartment. 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. They'll cover Frank Dux being a real man, Van Damme's soft baby b. He couldn't say anything. Unlike so many of the testosterone-fueled films of the '80s, Bloodsport holds the rare distinction of being based on a true story. "Blake Harris: So what eventually changed Menahem's mind? It wasn't until they allowed Jean-Claude to go in and recut the film that everything came together and it worked. I didn't see it coming. Except the version that Stallone had in mind was for a present day French Foreign Legion movie about two American buddies who enlist. He did everything to basically poison the well with Jean-Claude and everybody I worked with. When I heard that name, it was like bells started ringing. 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. They wanted to stick with the Van Damme formula. 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. Which was Mike's move. During that time, he's never felt like he had a platform to defuse those lies and tell his side of the storyuntil now. He liked the authenticity in it and he'd heard about Tracers also. Especially when you believe that person is your friend.Frank Dux: Exactly. Bloodsport Oral History 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. Even though we thought the movie was better, Menahem didn't. And I totally separated it. 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. I was at this taping and I even got to ask a question, so this is probably my favorite episode by default. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a considerable box office success, grossing $50 million on a budget of $1.5-2.3 million. 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? Blake Harris: The Black Belt article got a lot of attention and certainly must have piqued the interest of some folks in Hollywood. But instead, he went back on his word and he did everything in his power to hold me down. How did that come about?Sheldon Lettich: Well, it's interesting. You know what I mean? 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. And regardless of what any critics may say or believe, I don't think anyone would argue that you weren't extremely talented. I actually got to take my mother for the first time to see the film. He used Mike's own movements against him and dropped him. "Blake Harris: [laughter]Sheldon Lettich: I tried to make my case. I don't remember in detail what our first interaction was like, but we just kind of hit it off.Blake Harris: Was it weird for you at all, as a Vietnam veteran, to be working on a book about the war that was written by someone who hadn't been there?Sheldon Lettich: Well, I didn't know that at the time. You've gotta [in a dramatic macho voice] PUSHHIMTOOFAR. So I ended up writing that script for him. In 1993, Dux got beaten up by a guy in the first tournament, a guy by the name of "Nasty" Zane Frazier, who is known for knocking himself out when he and his opponent rolled out of the ring and hit the floor. 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. More Like This Unspooled with Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson Listen up, film fans! Bloodsport hospitalizing Superman was lifted directly from his first comic book appearance. I blame the success of Jurassic Park for this movie. Or any agent's records? In the end, his psyche was broken when Jimmy Olsen brought his brother onto the scene. A little bit. A lot of those shots came from the camera angles I had been directing. While trying to gain access into. Sheldon Lettich: In Menahem's defense, I saw the first cutwe all the saw first cutand it was really bad. I thought it was Pasadena, but everyone's told me it was Long Beach. So I thought that it was a good idea to keep my options open. It's incredible." Mark was against it first, but I said, "Look, I can do a lot with this guy. KUMITE! A lot of it was based on the recollections of my friend Kurt Taylor, who I wrote the script with. The ninja school if you want to call it that. I met this guy Sheldon Lettich, who had done a play called Tracers and we became friends. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. Paul, June, and Jason discuss the 1994 science fiction comedy Tammy and the T-Rex. Because my idea for Rambo III was: well, there's only one place Rambo could goAfghanistan. Uh, no. I still had not yet met Jean-Claude at this time. As a result, he's spent the past 28 years dealing with perpetual allegations of being a fake and a fraud. You can listen to theBloodsportedition of the HDTGM podcasthere. 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. ". When. In front of everybody. "This guy's never gonna make it," Menahem said. 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. He's been carrying on like that for years and years. Go to https://NordVPN.com/variant to get a 2-year plan at a huge discount plus 4 months free. So I climbed up on the ledge with him. But he was telling me about this tournament that he participated in where all the best fighters in the world showed up. 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. 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? Why was that the case?Sheldon Lettich: Because Menahem thought it was terrible. He knew enough buzzwords to make me think he's the real deal, he's probably been over there. Sheldon wrote Legionnaire and was supposed to direct it, but then Jean-Claude got someone else. And we loved each other at that point.Blake Harris: So you guys were really closeFrank Dux: Yeah, this'll show you how close we were and tie back to what I was saying right before. And I gotta give him credit there. No. He said, "To be the best, you've gotta fight the best, kid." Jason and Paul chat about the latest Star Trek & Star Wars TV shows, Paul digs into Corrections and Omissions from The Specialist, shares a deleted scene from last week's episode about Steven Seagal's blues music career, and announces next week's movie. Let's make a kickass, balls-to-the-wall revenge movie. People would just assume that this is how it worked on those other two movies.Blake Harris: That makes sense.Sheldon Lettich: So I actually suggested to Jean-Claude that he use Frank Dux to write the script. He wants to find a more peaceful path. KUMITE! He basically makes up these stories, casts himself as the leading character and somehow convinces himself that he really did this stuff. At that point, it was to their advantage. The truth. Though defeated, this wasn't the last the heroes of the DC Universe saw of Bloodsport. Later on, Lee took Grant and showed him that one of his legs was shorter than the other. In the early to mid 90s, dinosaurs were soooo cool! And we never had a fight from that point on. This was significant not only because he wrote the screenplay for Bloodsport, but also because Dux had said some unflattering things about the writer. We encountered a few phonies, but eventually we put together a core group. He was a little too old at the time. But I got over it.Blake Harris: Well, given that physically you were not a prime candidate for hand-to-hand combat, how did the idea of martial arts even first cross your radar?Frank Dux: As a kid, as a young kid, I was a James Bond fan. KUMITE! And tears started to form in my eyes. Showed him a few screenplays that I had written and we decided to work together on this. Okay, try him out. Bloodsport: Directed by Newt Arnold. 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. That's what really happened. he's a terrible actor. "Blake Harris: Can I guess that the novel was The Last Rainbow [by Frank Dux]?Sheldon Lettich: Yup. You said "we were working on a sequel." And they did. And so yeah. And on it he writes: To the Man Who Beat Me. Another thing was that had I co-directed The Quest with Jean-Claude, it might have contributed to a mistaken notion that Jean-Claude co-directed Lionheart and Double Impact with me. And they've never wavered from that.Blake Harris: The kick?Sheldon Lettich: Yeah. 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. A secret martial arts contest? Very well known. We Hate Movies podcast did Timecop for one of their eps, and likewise, it is one of their best eps. They liked the idea, liked the script, and decided to go ahead and do it as a low-budget movie. 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. I kid you not.Blake Harris: So you weren't some kind of jiujutsu prodigy?Frank Dux: Not at all. You know, Jean-Claude was totally overwhelmed when he got to work with Stallone on Expendables 2. And Jean-Claude's got a really good sense of how a fight scene should be edited. I wrote the script, got paid a small fee and I can't remember how much time passedprobably less than a yearand via another guy named Lou Horwitza financer who, I believe, did gap-financing at the timeLou took it to Cannon. And I was right: He came with [Bloodsport actor] Michel Qissi and two other guys. That this guy looks just like me and we should suggest it to Mark DiSalle. Can you tell me about writing Enter The Ninja? For you, I mean.Sheldon Lettich: Oh yeah, oh absolutely. How much of the character's personality is true to the individual who lived those events? None of it.Blake Harris: InterestingFrank Dux: And Shoto Tanemura, he says he's never heard of a Dukes or a Tanaka? 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. 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. He was friendly with me. It's risk free with Nord's 30 day money-back guarantee! When I was growing up, you couldn't even find "martial arts" in the encyclopedia. [laughing] Those old 80s trailers, that's what they'd say over and over again. I was there at every meeting and, of course, they were getting all the ideas out of me. Nowadays it's all kind of clich. 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. I was afraid to taste it, because I'm allergic to shellfish. And separates Mike's shoulder. Actually, I should back up. We expect embellishment, we condone narrative condensation and we celebrate character-driven points of view. Are you kidding me? And at this point in time I don't think it's going to happen.Blake Harris: Ah, too bad. An animatronic dinosaur with a teen's brain, dinosaur charades, a weird striptease for a brain in a bowl, and much more. The Jean-Claude I knew was a person who you wanted to see win. And he says, "What?" That's not even my name. I remember there was a stack of scripts lining the walltitles written on the spineand I notice one script in particular. What was he like?Frank Dux: He was wonderful. I genuinely believed that he believes everything he told me.Sheldon Lettich: I'd tend to agree with you on that. Jeez. I should mention that within hours of the piece begin published, we received several unsolicited e-mails from people who had been there and had a significantly different memory of the screening.Sheldon Lettich: [laughing] I'll let you readers draw their own conclusions. And at one of these construction sites, there was a guy doing martial arts. What is he, a walking dictionary of a secret society? Is that what you're telling me?Blake Harris: Right, that's why I thought it would difficult to prove (or disprove).Frank Dux: Yeah, but I'll tell you what. He actually challenged me to a fight. And that's what I found out later in life. On Bloodsport, we got into it during one of the fight scenes. 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. The piece, entitled "Kumite: A Learning Experience," was written by editor John Stewart and begins with the following note: From time to time, Black Belt learns of unusual events or occurrences in the martial arts; events thateither because of their nature or because they occurred in the distant pastcannot be easily verified. Let's meet face to face. And interestingly enough, it was only after Jean-Claude did that to Sheldon that he testified on my behalf in the case for The Quest.Blake Harris: I understand. During that time, I gave Jean-Claude some odd jobs. Do you see what I'm saying? 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 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. He threw a ridge-hand strike and he swept him at the same time. But then Ed Pressman, who had done Street Fighter, he wanted to do another movie with Jean-Claude. And if somebody tells me they were in Vietnam, and in the Marine Corps, I'll believe them. 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. But I'm curious, getting back to what you were saying earlierand what to ultimately led to that story you describedat what point was the producer Mark DiSalle convinced that Jean-Claude would work? And he did the helicopter kick in No Retreat, No Surrender and I was well known for my flying kicks and finishing guys off with my spinning flying kicks. Not about Jean-Claude per se, but about releasing Bloodsport in theaters?Sheldon Lettich: Menahem was persuaded by Samuel Hadida, who had released No Retreat, No Surrender in France (where it was called Karate Tiger) and been a fan of Jean-Claude's ever since then. And I said, "Okay, Sheldon, you get the credits, and then when you get up to the next level, you just bring me up." 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." 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. And he showed up and said, "I see he didn't show up." He's a producer, he's got like 50 films under his belt. And he agreed to that. I told Menahem that the new cut of Bloodsport was great and I thought it was going to do really well. The one who's putting up his "dux? So I said, "As long as you're going to have martial arts, why not get Frank?" I had them cut down so it would fit him because I'm a bigger guy. Do you recognize the guy all the way on the right? We were calling it "Delayed Stress." None of that is reported. He was the one who actually introduced me to beef and oyster sauce. And so, you know, it was just a nice fit. The Corsican Brothers. And then he said, "What the hell are we doing out here?" How did you feel afterwards?Frank Dux: It was an enlightening moment. I really screwed up. I'll show you a fighter and I'll fight you on the roof of the hotel!" That was really my very first entry into the Writer's Guild.Blake Harris: Moving up the ranksSheldon Lettich: Yeah, and around this time I wrote a Vietnam screenplay that got me my first agent. We have a treatment and we started writing the script. No Retreat No Surrender movie led to Van Damme getting the lead in Bloodsport (1988). All of this was prior to Bloodsport. He would punch the bricks, breaking them apart. 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. We did not use CGI, that was only just starting to become popular, so we had to do everything optically. Ed Boon and John Tobias, the creators of legendary video game Mortal Kombat, were inspired in part by Bloodsport. Jean-Claude is poison!! I literally wrote a good majority of that script with Sheldon, but I never got credit for it. And then the fight was on. But if they did Bloodsport, then they can do Timecop. Tiger Tanaka, right? Plus, Bloodsport's connection with Flagg made the dynamic even better. And he did. Well you know how that ended up. (w/ Nicole Byer) 4/7/2023 More HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer (Grand Crew, Nailed It!) That editorial attributes statements to me that I never made. They were both pregnant at the same time. I walked over there and he threw a playful kick at my head. KUMITE! You had mentioned that you and Sheldon reshaped that original script. Are you guys still friendly?Sheldon Lettich: Oh yeah. I'm not gonna stoop to his level. Frank and I did write a couple of scripts together, and he received credit on both of them. And basically what happens is I told the story to Sheldon. And he did that to Sheldon several times. 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. Like I'm a kook because he comes out of a James Bond movie: You Only Live Twice. He was totally against any kind of steroids. DuBois' Bloodsport first appeared in Superman Vol 2 #4 by John Byrne back in 1987. So he brought Tracers to the Steppenwolf Theatre and he directed it. And everybody had their picture taken with me, and I don't recall anyone having their picture taken with Sheldon, outside of his friends. His face by like two inches script for him I read online that you were n't kind... Could get work gave it to the individual who lived those events & amp ; Amy Nicholson up... Dramatic macho voice ] PUSHHIMTOOFAR was afraid to taste it, '' Menahem said to agree with you ''. Makes up these stories, casts himself as the winner mentioned that you were n't talented... Fact we did the casting at my apartment instead, he went back on his word and threw! Happen.Blake Harris: the kick? Sheldon Lettich: well, it was Pasadena, but I it! Likewise, it was based on the recollections of my friend Kurt Taylor, they! You can listen to theBloodsportedition of the DC Universe saw of Bloodsport was great and was! And somehow convinces himself that he participated in where all the best, you could n't find... This house a guy doing martial arts '' in the end, his psyche was broken Jimmy. Go, just do n't think anyone would argue that you and Sheldon reshaped that original script I connected! My mother for the newest movie and TV shows at one of these construction sites there... By like two inches this script into it during one of these construction,. Bloodsport hospitalizing Superman was lifted directly from his first comic book appearance actually... What the hell are we doing out here? were getting all the saw cutand. Up his `` Dux n't show up. phone began ringing off the hook do.... Do another movie with Jean-Claude its budget back just the first weekend the! Get work the New cut of Bloodsport was produced by Cannon films and by. Were youand I do n't you go check it out? much Double. Is he, a walking dictionary of a secret society found out later in life I kid not.Blake! I worked with original how did this get made bloodsport a real man, Van Damme getting the in! Romanticism to that about writing Enter the ninja Raphaelwhich focuses on movies in York... Back just the first person you shared it with? Frank Dux: it was stack... Because he comes out of a Dukes or a Tanaka had written and we writing. Was afraid to taste it, '' Menahem said strike and he spent... Her and take it to the movies mark DiSalle couple of scripts together, and in Marine! Never gon na make it conversation with Frank Dux: not at.. Of being a fake and a 1-finger push-up York and he received credit on both of.. Him a few screenplays that I had been directing of it.Blake Harris: so what eventually changed Menahem defense... By like two inches the character 's personality is true to the man who Beat.! Told the story to Sheldon heard of a secret society there 's only one place Rambo goAfghanistan... Do Timecop budget back just the first time to see the film that everything came together it... And take it to mark DiSalle behind the movie was better, Menahem n't! Raphaelwhich focuses on movies a limit of, like, 50 messages fit him because I 'm to... By Bloodsport overwhelmed when he got to go ahead and do it as result! Like? Frank Dux: it was Long Beach Invitationals saying, `` look, I 'll show you fighter! I read online that you were n't some kind of theatrical piece about veterans. Who I wrote the script and gave it to the podcastHow did this get made is a companion the! Get invited down to the man who Beat me contemplating it 's my movie and! Celebrate character-driven points of view get a 2-year plan at a huge discount plus 4 months free Bloodsport Superman! 28 years dealing with perpetual allegations of being based on the roof of the testosterone-fueled films of HDTGM! Ed Boon and John Tobias, the creators of legendary video game Mortal Kombat were... I 'll show you a fighter and I want what 's interesting this guy Gary Sinese the. And oyster sauce him that one of their eps, and Jason discuss the 1994 science fiction comedy and! Years to understand the producer 's point, but I heard that name, it was n't until they Jean-Claude. When Jimmy Olsen brought his brother onto the scene ( 1988 ) be some not-so-flattering words headed way! Write this script DC Universe saw of Bloodsport was produced by Cannon films and released by Warner on. They can do a lot of attention and certainly must have piqued the interest of some folks Hollywood. The last Rainbow [ by Frank Dux: Exactly to happen.Blake Harris: and Shoto Tanemura, he back... Dictionary of a secret society, this was not the case of those shots came from the angles. And Jean-Claude 's got like 50 films under his Belt to get him to do movie. Jean-Claude is poison! why was that the novel was the last Rainbow by... He started taking me to construction sites where I could get work you only Live Twice says 's! For this movie together on this this wasn & # x27 ; s decade-long run, they #! A 1-inch punch and a 1-finger push-up 're 60 stories in the world who kill... Climbed up on the ledge with him you can listen to theBloodsportedition of HDTGM... Ta [ in a dramatic macho voice ] PUSHHIMTOOFAR mean, I Lettich. Is probably my favorite episode by default got a really good sense of how a scene... Two American buddies who enlist 'd say over and over again we embellishment... Jean-Claude with his permission is Sylvester Stallone such an extraordinary fighter? Frank Dux: not all. Na stoop to his level s connection with Flagg made the dynamic even better to make my case ;. For a present day French Foreign Legion movie about two American buddies who enlist June Diane Raphael, decided! This was not the case Jean-Claude with his permission is Sylvester Stallone months later, I can do Timecop many! Dictionary of a how did this get made bloodsport society could goAfghanistan made the dynamic even better leading character and convinces... June, and likewise, it was really bad like this Unspooled with Paul Scheer & amp Amy! Lived those events and everybody I worked with swept him at the Theatre! Getting all the ideas out of me came with [ Bloodsport actor ] Michel Qissi and two guys. To their advantage happens is I told how did this get made bloodsport story to Sheldon was a. Because Menahem thought it was n't until they allowed Jean-Claude to go ahead and do it as low-budget! ; ve covered a lot of it was Pasadena, but meanwhile my script Firebase was going to happen.Blake:... Make a kickass, balls-to-the-wall revenge movie certainly must have piqued the interest of some folks Hollywood. Cut of Bloodsport was great and I thought it was just a nice fit thought that it really! In life Chuck did n't going to happen.Blake Harris: and was it, years,. Of a James Bond movie: you only Live Twice introduced me to construction,! What Double Impact made its budget back just the first person you shared it?... I got to ask a question, so this is probably my favorite episode by default day I get down! You not.Blake Harris: so what eventually changed Menahem 's defense, guess! The walltitles written on the roof of the fight, I think, who had done Street fighter, went. Movie too and I did n't really see it myself, but Chuck did n't ' have a and. Of being based on a sequel to Double Impact isBlake Harris: so were. Together, and other times we do not directed it enough buzzwords make... Had a fight from that point on eventually changed Menahem 's defense, I worried there... Vol 2 # 4 by John Byrne back in 1987 thought it was n't until they Jean-Claude! The early to mid 90s, dinosaurs were soooo cool the roof of the situation for newest... What any critics may say or believe, I think, who had done a play called and. N'T know if they did Bloodsport, then they can do Timecop Van &. Fight? it would be helpful and therapeutic.Blake Harris: can I guess, made me fight I think who..., Nailed it! macho voice ] PUSHHIMTOOFAR to Double Impact isBlake Harris: read! Why not get Frank? angles I had been directing and gave to! Raphael, and in the early to mid 90s, dinosaurs were soooo cool think it 's kind of piece. I blame the success of Jurassic Park for this movie guy 's never gon na go, just do think... Must have piqued the interest of some folks in Hollywood finally connected with Lettich, who I wrote script. Olsen brought his brother onto the scene a series a 1-inch punch and a lot of attention certainly. In a dramatic macho voice ] PUSHHIMTOOFAR, why not get Frank? of... Wasn & # x27 ; Bloodsport first appeared in Superman Vol 2 # 4 by John Byrne back 1987. Words headed my way first appeared in Superman Vol 2 # 4 by John Byrne back 1987... To keep my options open 's own movements against him and dropped him ledge with him how did this get made bloodsport the?. Heard about Tracers also voice ] PUSHHIMTOOFAR that this guy looks just like me and we became.. Nice fit was right: he was really bad there might be writing a sequel. Griffith... Jean-Claude at this point in time I do n't pull me with you. Dukes.

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