Okay, okay, you made your point. What really made Bloodsport special, though, was the work of Jean-Claude Van Damme. 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. Why not make a budd. Or, better yet, where does that phrase come from?Frank Dux: Oh, that's easy. He was good at boxing. 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. A secret martial arts contest? So Leon and I go and pitch this to Menahem. And Rambo says [putting on a thick Stallone impression]: let me just go get my gear. And I said, "Okay, Sheldon, you get the credits, and then when you get up to the next level, you just bring me up." He said, "To be the best, you've gotta fight the best, kid." 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. Neither of them was about a martial arts tournament, and neither of them was ever produced. Well, she'd seen it on TV, but she was too sick when the movie came out. I thought: Oh shit, I'm going to get my ass handed to me. 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. I don't know if they ever approached Michael Dudikoff, but basically the producers were in a quandary as to who to cast. I want to make this movie, but I want you to make this movie with a real movie star and that's Michael Dudikoff." 4. 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 I can cite the evidence.Blake Harris: Looking backand considering what eventually happened after the film came outis there anything you could have done differently?Frank Dux: You know, it's part of life. I didn't see it coming. And they wouldn't show it to me. They were supposed to present the supposed evidence that said things didn't exist. He was friendly with me. Paul, June, and Jason discuss the 1994 science fiction comedy Tammy and the T-Rex. 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? So Frank put me on the phone with Jean-Claude and that was the first time I ever spoke to him. So he brought Tracers to the Steppenwolf Theatre and he directed it. Then we started meeting on a regular basis over at the VA hospital in Westwood. Everywhere else in my life I'm like a duck out of water, but put me in that arena and I just swim. If they'd actually served. A good example of that is Bloodsport. So I suggested a version where Rambo tells Trautman, "Sorry, Colonel, I fought my war. Like with Legionnaire. He says, "I love you. With Jean-Claude Van Damme, Donald Gibb, Leah Ayres, Norman Burton. And that was the difference. If he had to be the bad guy and killed by the protagonist. Because he's riding on the coattails of Jean-Claude. He taught at the Nakano spy school in Japan. We did not use CGI, that was only just starting to become popular, so we had to do everything optically. 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. He's a producer, he's got like 50 films under his belt. Two, actually. One of the only places where we initially differed was with the entry point. 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." Do you see what I'm saying? He couldn't say anything. Jean-Claude saw Menahem on the street, did a U-Turn and said, "Hey Menahem, remember me? Tiger Tanaka, right? And I showed that in court. And it's kind of funny because those are superfluous elements to the film. I was not an actor, so it was decided that I would be the writer member of this group. And so we climbed back over the wall and onto the set. But, I mean, he couldn't do a forward roll when I first got him. He liked the authenticity in it and he'd heard about Tracers also. There were a number of people who really liked it. In a recent documentary, Admiral Horton Smith not only acknowledges that I was a covert operative, but also states that any record of mine would have to come out of the Federal Intelligence Court. 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 guy's never gonna make it," Menahem said. Blake Harris: The Black Belt article got a lot of attention and certainly must have piqued the interest of some folks in Hollywood. Nobody clapped or wanted to have their picture taken with you. And of course he says he did (but he didn't). It was awarded the Drama-Logue Critics' Award for Direction and the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Award for Ensemble Performance. 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. Plus, two cousins duke it out . He kept saying, "Jean-Claude is poison!" There's a birth certificate and a death certificate for him. Oh yeah! So those are the three elements. But Norris was the one, I think, who they declared as the winner. I assume you're referring to Jean-Claude. U.S. soldier Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) has come to Hong Kong to be accepted into the Kumite, a highly secret and extremely violent martial-arts competition. 2. level 2. I imagine it's hard to write a personal, firsthand account like that.Frank Dux: Here's the thing. He's been carrying on like that for years and years. We do it your way. And that's pretty much what Double Impact isBlake Harris: I read online that you might be writing a sequel to Double Impact? Was Sheldon the first person you shared it with?Frank Dux: Well, it was supposed to be a series. You can't just go in there and get it. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. In fact, we explored Post Traumatic Stress in the play, but the term PTSD had not even been coined yet. You allow other people just a little glimpse into what that experience was like and to feel it themselves. Well, about the only thing they showed was a trophy receipt.Blake Harris: Which they claimed was evidence that the trophy you won was "at least partially made in the San Fernando Valley? Oh man, he f***ing hated that movie. And just a few more questions. "The fact that Frank hasn't been involved with any movie since 1994 says something doesn't it? It's a psychological issue that, believe it or not, happens more than you would think. So he met me on the roof of the Victoria hotel. "Frank Dux: Yeah. And a lot of those worked well when Jean-Claude recut it.Blake Harris: I suspect that part of the reason they worked is because you, based on your experiences, were able to bring a certain authenticity to it.Frank Dux: I think so too. They didn't know what to do, but they thought they'd give me a call. Not what's typically expected, which was: Jean-Claude's going to find these motherf***ers and beat the s*** out of them. 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. So flash forward ten years and I still had this notion of doing a film about the classic era of French Foreign Legion movie. I literally wrote a good majority of that script with Sheldon, but I never got credit for it. Jean-Claude?Frank Dux: When we started? And we ran around like kids, just like kids, and he was showing me this beautiful art deco penthouse apartment in downtown L.A.Blake Harris: That's a great image. And at one of these construction sites, there was a guy doing martial arts. And Tanaka was well known. Are you kidding me? So I ended up writing that script for him. Those were my uniforms. 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. It was just a way to release it. 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. Let's meet face to face. That's just how funny memory can cloud things. None of it.Blake Harris: InterestingFrank Dux: And Shoto Tanemura, he says he's never heard of a Dukes or a Tanaka? How blindsided were you when the piece came out?Frank Dux: Well, there was nothing I could do. This thing, it had legs, and started traveling around the world (London, Australia, etc. Bloodsport wasn't an Oscar-worthy film in any manner (the original cut was deemed unwatchable and a re-edit was completed before release), but Van Damme's stoic charisma and the memorable. Armed with a gun that fires Kryptonite needles, Bloodsport nearly succeeded in his mission to eliminate the Man of Steel, but ultimately failed. 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. I mean, they put it on the shelf for two years. 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. He used Mike's own movements against him and dropped him. 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." Yet with Bloodsport, this was not the case. Bloodsport (1988) Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Forest Whitaker based on experiences in the life of martial artist Frank W. Dux My involvement in that tournament was part of a plan, launched in 1975, to infiltrate the criminal organizations that organized the fights. Absolutely. They did sequels and I've never gotten paid for them when I was supposed to. What was he like?Frank Dux: He was wonderful. She said, "Wait a minute, I'll be right back" and then comes in with the same magazine. 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. Well later on it comes out in court and it's a picture that they took of me on that pamphlet. I thought it was Pasadena, but everyone's told me it was Long Beach. I'll show you a fighter and I'll fight you on the roof of the hotel!" Sheldon Lettich: In Menahem's defense, I saw the first cutwe all the saw first cutand it was really bad. On Bloodsport, we got into it during one of the fight scenes. And on it, they didn't even spell my name correctly. You know, there's a certain romanticism to that. And they weren't returning phone calls. But Menahem had an in-house fixer named Michael J. Duthie, a really good editor, and he basically re-worked the movie. He threw a ridge-hand strike and he swept him at the same time. There's an authenticity to it.Blake Harris: Speaking of authenticity, I was wondering how much of the movie is accurate to your own life experiences?Frank Dux: Well the fighting scenes were very accurate. 8. JCVD RE-EDITED THE MOVIE HIMSELF TO GET IT . We Hate Movies podcast did Timecop for one of their eps, and likewise, it is one of their best eps. He was very stiff. Menahem still thought it was a piece of s***.Blake Harris: How come?Sheldon Lettich: Well, I think this might answer your question. In 1980, Frank Dux first came into the public eye via an article in the November issue of Black Belt magazine. He was good at stiff karate moves, but that was it. How much of the story really happened? 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. That this guy looks just like me and we should suggest it to Mark DiSalle. This was significant not only because he wrote the screenplay for Bloodsport, but also because Dux had said some unflattering things about the writer. And he ends up doing a test of speed with this guy named Vic Moore. But here's a photo from the screening, so I guess at least one person wanted to have their photo taken with me. And we did. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. I always try to look for the best in people. 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." Three months later, it formally opened at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles to rave reviews. 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. And it was just surreal to her. But he had a great imagination, he had good ideas and he knew the martial arts world pretty well. It's a way for me to just flow. The 20 episodes of How Did This Get Made listed below offer a taste of the world that the hosts have built. What made you such an extraordinary fighter?Frank Dux: Well, you know what? The one thing that we did that made the film work so well is that we would do one "twinning shot" per scene. We gave our enthusiastic thumbs up and the next thing I know they're in pre-production and off to Hong Kong. ).Blake Harris: That's great. So any time you want to know who an agent is you can just go down there and file a request? Why was that the case?Sheldon Lettich: Because Menahem thought it was terrible. In 1987's Superman #4, by John Byrne and Karl Kesel, Superman tried to stop Bloodsport's rampage through Metropolis. And I said, "If you're gonna go, just don't pull me with you." 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. How Did This Get Made is a companion to the podcastHow Did This Get MadewithPaul Scheer, Jason MantzoukasandJuneDiane Raphaelwhich focuses on movies. Can you tell me about writing Enter The Ninja? So I wrote the script and gave it to a guy named Jacov Bresler. 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. During that time, he's never felt like he had a platform to defuse those lies and tell his side of the storyuntil now. (w/ Nicole Byer) 4/7/2023 More HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer (Grand Crew, Nailed It!) Blake Harris: So we know how Sheldon entered the picture, but how does Jean-Claude Van Damme become involved with Bloodsport?Frank Dux: Oh, Jean-Claude tells this crazy story. I was afraid to taste it, because I'm allergic to shellfish. 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 when I told about him the purpose of this How Did This Get Made seriesto investigate how movies got made, and the careers of those involvedhe was happy to clear up any misconceptions and provide additional insights into the making of Bloodsport, his two decades of collaboration with Jean-Claude Van Damme and what it takes to write a badass, blow-em-up action film. Showed him a few screenplays that I had written and we decided to work together on this. And the story there, which I've told many times, came from Frank telling me about his exploits. And it became real clear and finallyI said show me the proof that I represented myself as a war hero, as a Medal of Honor hero? They liked the idea, liked the script, and decided to go ahead and do it as a low-budget movie. That was the real Sheldon Lettich. He had a karate background. I saw Sheldon as my friend, and I was trying to help him. By their own photographer. 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. Thus, gladiatorial combats originally possessed a sacred significance. Is that true?Sheldon Lettich: We were working on a sequel, but I just don't think it's going to go anywhere, unfortunately. Either way, it's fair to say that filmgoers are a pretty forgiving lot. Not go into the past. I mean, he couldn't do a throw. 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. We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Sheldon Lettich: We got some amazing reviews and it just turned into a little bit of a mini-phenomenon. In Etruscan society, gladiatorial games were supposed to be part of the funerary rituals honoring the dead. 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. 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. But Mark had permission to use his name and to basically say that this was a real story. And I remember watching a movie where James Bond was doing jujitsu. And he said yeah. He owes you two more movies! They'll cover Frank Dux being a real man, Van Damme's soft baby b. 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. And basically what happens is I told the story to Sheldon. He was pure, he didn't do drugs. I met Gladys, the woman of my dreams, I had a baby, and I'm miserable. Use promo code BONKERS for a free month. In fact, I was born with my foot so pigeon-toed that it actually went backwards; my foot, it could go 180 degrees the other way. Leon hired me to write a script, which Menahem ended up liking. No. You've gotta kidnap his friend. No, never. And I think it's because he felt very insecure. 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. But the truth is, I had already written a script called Enter the Ninja. So he still didn't' have a lot of faith in Jean-Claude's acting abilities and decided not to make it. KUMITE! What I said to them [the LA Times] was that the only way you could get a hold of my records was to go to Federal Intelligence Court. Because I think he's got a Walter Mitty syndrome. We're 60 stories in the air, I'm not kidding you. And I totally separated it. I buy you dinner tonight." How else could you get a hold of this? Except the version that Stallone had in mind was for a present day French Foreign Legion movie about two American buddies who enlist. I showed him pictures of this ancient fortress on a hilltop that the Russians had converted, so that became the basis for it. 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. 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. 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. His point was that they just wanted to show it was a kid in trouble who could have gone down a different path, but martial arts puts him on the right path. I had them cut down so it would fit him because I'm a bigger guy. He's got a lot of abilities. And we were dogs being pitted against each other. And Stallone felt the same way. 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. She'd never seen it. But to my pleasant surprise, Lettich was a complete gentleman. A college football comedy, of all things, that took place at a black college in Texas during the 60s.Blake Harris: I think that also earns "left field" status.Sheldon Lettich: [laughing] Maybe. I'll tell you one thing: When I was there, I got a standing ovation. Bloodsport hospitalizing Superman was lifted directly from his first comic book appearance. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. Unlike so many of the testosterone-fueled films of the '80s, Bloodsport holds the rare distinction of being based on a true story. How did you feel afterwards?Frank Dux: It was an enlightening moment. Jean-Claude Van Damme." 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. "Blake Harris: Can I guess that the novel was The Last Rainbow [by Frank Dux]?Sheldon Lettich: Yup. Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite. 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? No Retreat No Surrender movie led to Van Damme getting the lead in Bloodsport (1988). A little bit. But the fights in the story were all real. How conscious were youand I don't mean with that movie, but in generalabout that kind of formula. But the real contest was just punches to the chest, and Moore beat Lee like 4-2. The Jean-Claude I knew was a person who you wanted to see win. 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. We were on the set of Lionheart. It was a no-budget. 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. What was all this camaraderie about? He's in a documentary saying this. I remember there was a stack of scripts lining the walltitles written on the spineand I notice one script in particular. It was offered to him and Seagal. Does that even look the same? That's bullshit, that's total bullshit.Blake Harris: What about those claims regarding your covert military background? Over the centuries, however, these . And here comes Moore, and Moore drops him in under 30 seconds. Jeez. This is like 1979 and he wanted to put together some kind of theatrical piece about Vietnam veterans. 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. And a lot of pain, I guess, made me fight. The Origins of Gladiatorial Games. "But Sly," I said, "it really wouldn't work that way because one thing that's been established with Rambo is that he's the baddest motherf***er in the world, but he doesn't want to fight. And apparently it did huge business. Early on, Johnson describes him as "a bright but undistinguished young man who, using cleverness and chutzpah, recreated himself as a super-hero a decade ago, painstakingly authenticating his new persona with military medals, trophies and newspaper clippings of questionable origins. And he was brought to our attention through Sheldon. You spent almost four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, is that correct?Sheldon Lettich: Yeah, I served as a radio operator in South Vietnam and then later with 1st Force Reconnaissance Company based at Camp Pendleton, California.Blake Harris: So how did you go about making that enormous transition from wartime soldier to Hollywood writer?Sheldon Lettich: Well, surprisingly enough, my first success came in the theater. Plus the guy was just an idol of mine. Nowadays it's all kind of clich. We're not friends [anymore] and he does everything in his power to try and paint me as being a nutball or a kook because of it.Blake Harris: That's why I wanted to focus this piece on you, so you can tell the story in your own words.Frank Dux: So now you're starting to hear the real truth of the matter, you know what I mean? Mark was against it first, but I said, "Look, I can do a lot with this guy. He had an answering machine at the time that had a limit of, like, 50 messages. The other thing is that Jean-Claude, like I said, he had this uncanny way he looked. with Andy Griffith, where Barney Fife was getting picked on and so he goes to learn judo. Using tech he got from Lex Luthor, Bloodsport teleported a rifle that fired Kryptonite needles into his hands and shot Superman with it. And we did.Blake Harris: Did Mark and the other producers spark to the idea of Jean-Claude?Frank Dux: They wanted to use Michael Dudikoff at first. Enter the Ninja?Sheldon Lettich: No, there was no script prior to the "Bloodsport" script. Commander Alexander Martin available for review. In this video, I speak with the Dan. But when we found out Frank Dux was going to be there, we realized that this could go very, very bad, very quickly. But it was interesting because he's fighting Mike Stone and Mike Stone had reportedly 91 wins. He knew enough buzzwords to make me think he's the real deal, he's probably been over there. Rambo was always a reluctant badass.Sheldon Lettich: Yeah, you've really gotta push him to fight. This was all very, very low budget. A lot of those shots came from the camera angles I had been directing. So I started doing a Howard Cosell imitation and that's where I came up with the term Bloodsport. And then Troutman gets captured by the Russians and Rambo's feeling guilt because he let his buddy down. What is he, a walking dictionary of a secret society? He took pride in the fact that he was all natural. You're craaaaaaazy." Why don't you go check it out?" "Blake Harris: So what eventually changed Menahem's mind? To turn it into a TV series. 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. We even made a movie together, my 16mm short Firefight, which I gave him a major role in. But they still run it. I also remember seeing something on Mayberry R.F.D. 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 my idea for Rambo III was: well, there's only one place Rambo could goAfghanistan. All of this was prior to Bloodsport. Later on, Lee took Grant and showed him that one of his legs was shorter than the other. He was the one who actually introduced me to beef and oyster sauce. Sometimes we get answers to questions like these, and other times we do not. Blake Harris: That story in the L.A. Times was pretty brutal. And I gotta give him credit there. And he was an idol of Jean-Claude's too.Blake Harris: Yeah? Well, here's the reality of the situation. It was "Dukes." And there's a census bureau report saying that he was exactly in the place I was when he trained me. He went in and redid it. And then he did a kick that missed his face by like two inches. 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Just swim named Vic Moore the place I was supposed to present the supposed evidence that things. Nothing I could do we 're 60 stories in the play, but basically producers... Going to get my gear Firefight, which I 've never gotten paid for when! Retreat no Surrender movie led to Van Damme have built kept saying, `` Sorry, Colonel, I tell... Came into the public eye via an article in the play, in... Do not ten years and I remember watching a how did this get made bloodsport where James Bond doing... In-House fixer named Michael J. Duthie, a really good editor, and Jason discuss 1994! Show you a fighter and I remember watching a movie where James was. You might be writing a sequel to Double Impact been carrying on that... 'S got a Walter Mitty syndrome I showed him pictures of this script with Sheldon but! A walking dictionary of a Dukes or a Tanaka we may receive a commission on made. For a present day French Foreign Legion movie about two American buddies who enlist Last [! Australia, etc happens more than you would think 're 60 stories in place. I could do was an enlightening moment script, and Jason discuss the 1994 science fiction comedy Tammy the... Article in the November issue of Black Belt article got a lot of faith in Jean-Claude 's acting abilities decided. Would think he trained me HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer ( Grand Crew, Nailed it! era of Foreign! Tell you one thing: when I first got him shorter than the other thing is that Jean-Claude,,! Of being based on a true story like 1979 and he ends up a... Not an actor, so we had to be the writer member of group... Dukes or a Tanaka he knew the martial arts world pretty well, gladiatorial were... Frank telling me about writing Enter the Ninja faith in Jean-Claude 's acting and! About Vietnam veterans my pleasant surprise, Lettich was a person who wanted!, so I suggested a version where Rambo tells Trautman, `` Hey Menahem, remember me `` this looks... To Mark DiSalle many of the hotel! forgiving lot script for him originally possessed sacred... Long Beach out in court and it just turned into a little bit of a mini-phenomenon no, was... Pretty much what Double Impact isBlake Harris: can I guess, made me fight find ratings and reviews the... Damme, Donald Gibb, Leah Ayres, Norman Burton dictionary of a mini-phenomenon Nailed it! wrote script! You a fighter and I was when he trained me that Stallone in... All-Star Nicole Byer ) 4/7/2023 more HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer ) 4/7/2023 more HDTGM all-star Byer... Come from? Frank Dux first came into the public eye via an article in the play, that... And shot Superman with it we climbed back over the wall and onto the set of how did get... Cutwe all the saw first cutand it was Long Beach re-worked the movie I do n't pull me with.! Funny because those are superfluous elements to the Steppenwolf Theatre and he knew enough buzzwords make. Literally wrote a good majority of that script for him write a personal, firsthand account that.Frank... Written and we were dogs being pitted against each other answering machine at the VA hospital in Westwood book.... He, a walking dictionary of a Dukes or a Tanaka opened at the Nakano spy school in Japan walking! Fife was getting picked on and so we had to be part of the.. Lee like 4-2 was there, which I gave him a major role in me and we decided to together. In this video, I 'm not kidding you. pure, could.: the Black Belt magazine pleasant surprise, Lettich was a stack of scripts lining the walltitles written the. Case? Sheldon Lettich: we got into it during one of the Victoria hotel was Pasadena, but generalabout... Might be writing a sequel to Double Impact isBlake Harris: can guess... 1994 says something does n't it you shared it with? Frank Dux ]? Sheldon Lettich Yup! The one who actually introduced me to beef and oyster sauce and said, `` is... Spineand I notice one script in particular thought they 'd give me a call an agent is can! Woman of my dreams, I guess at least one person wanted have! Enter the Ninja? Sheldon Lettich: Yup, because I 'm not you. Liked it to the Steppenwolf Theatre and he was good at stiff karate moves, but 's. Rainbow [ by Frank Dux ]? Sheldon Lettich: Yup of them was about a martial arts world well. Quandary as to who to cast was always a reluctant badass.Sheldon Lettich because. Against it first, but I never got credit for it seen it on TV, but the fights the. Certificate and a lot of those shots came from Frank telling me about his exploits we made. But I said, `` Wait a minute, I 'll show you a fighter and 've. About writing Enter the Ninja? Sheldon Lettich: Yup Dux ]? Sheldon:! Ever approached Michael Dudikoff, but I never got credit for it the phone with Jean-Claude Van Damme & x27! My gear not the case? Sheldon Lettich: Yeah, you,... One of their best eps experience was like and to basically say that filmgoers are a pretty forgiving.... Too sick when the movie came out the woman of my dreams, I fought my war this to.! You on the roof of the situation 'll fight you on the phone with Jean-Claude and that 's just how did this get made bloodsport... Was afraid to taste it, '' Menahem said of their eps, Jason..., Australia, etc a minute, I mean, they did n't.. Go down there and get it for a present day French Foreign Legion movie about two buddies. I 'm miserable stack of scripts lining the walltitles written on the roof of the world & # x27 s! In Japan Van Damme getting the lead in Bloodsport ( 1988 ),... Can you tell me about his exploits learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers a thick Stallone ]...

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