Stories about Seagal (from director's , co-stars....)

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Mike Leeder just posted the The Voice interview on facebook Steven did a few years ago, and says:

Ah Steven the absolute shite you come out with......

Some people responded:

- Mike Leeder himself: My few dealings with him have never been positive


- There's plenty of good reasons why many other action stars from the era like Van Damme, Lundgren, etc are all enjoying some kind of career resurgence or raised profile again these days, yet Seagal wallows in mostly poor direct to video dreck. Bad reputation, a delusional ego, and he didn't even `play the game' and keep himself in better shape as required of the sort of genre he worked in.

- Peter Kent (who worked with Seagal on True Justice): I suffered thru working several episodes of Tru Justice with him. Horrendous. He had a babe in cut offs holding his dialogue on placards behind the other actor, resulting in no eye contact or proper eyeline. He had SO much tanning makeup on I almost thought he was a Jamaican fellow. He was so loathed by the entire cast and crew that they told him they were doing him a favor by condensing all of his scenes into 3 hours of shooting. The real reason was to get rid of his insufferable egotistical ass.

- My friend was working at police HQ in torronto a number of years ago while travelling the world when steven attended to provide training (which is one of the positive things he does) and she was introduced to him. His initial greeting to her was a general greeting followed by a line that went something like "Im only interested in asian woman".....classic Seagal right there
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
From Director/Writer Martin Kunert (instagram) at the AFM 2015:

12224420_1651601211784196_1786062016_n.jpg


Seems like everyone has their Segal film this year. I was suppose to direct him in one a few years back. Had odd creative meetings with him where he was blessing visitors walking in to the meetings. Turns out he's also a full blown Buddhist monk. For real.
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Michael Jai White is having some fun on twitter :D

@MichaelJaiWhite JCVD and steven segal allegedly had a little face off. Segal even brushed off your skills when your name was bourght up
Michael Jai White: JCVD spars fighters. I never heard of SS sparring anyone. U can't do what U don't practice. I say JC wins easily.

@MichaelJaiWhite Segal's only opponent these days is the doctor's office scale.
Michael Jai White: He's fighting for the KFC and it looks like he's winning.

Steven Seagal is a black belt in aikido under coach @EddieTarverdyan. He is as legit as it gets.
Michael Jai White: Did U just say Aikido? Lol. Aikido doesn't fight or spar other fighters. "Legit?" Are U serious or just naive?

@MichaelJaiWhite is it true you have a movie with seagal coming out soon?
Michael Jai White: Yup. No scenes 2gether. He was supposed to do "Cops & Robbers" with me but hates me 4 some reason.#noF'sgiven :)
 

Mason

Well-Known Member
Great poster. :) I sure hope that will Seagal's look in PW .. :cool:

From Director/Writer Martin Kunert (instagram) at the AFM 2015:

12224420_1651601211784196_1786062016_n.jpg


Seems like everyone has their Segal film this year. I was suppose to direct him in one a few years back. Had odd creative meetings with him where he was blessing visitors walking in to the meetings. Turns out he's also a full blown Buddhist monk. For real.
 

JoeDirt

Active Member
Michael Jai White is having some fun on twitter :D

@MichaelJaiWhite is it true you have a movie with seagal coming out soon?
Michael Jai White: Yup. No scenes 2gether. He was supposed to do "Cops & Robbers" with me but hates me 4 some reason.#noF'sgiven :)

Cops & Robbers stars MJW and Rampage Jackson, MJW plays a hostage negotiator and Rampage is the bad guy who is his long lost brother, so it's doubtful Seagal would have played that role.

It also stars Tom Berenger as the police chief I believe, so that's likely the role they offered to Seagal, or he might have accepted it but dropped out when he heard MJW is in it, if he really doesn't like him.

It's definitely a new era in Seagal's DTV career now that he's doing more and more of these small 1-3 day parts. He used to do lead roles exclusively, the only such supporting role was when he shot for 3 days on Against the Dark (and we all know how that turned out), but now he's doing more and more of these, let's face it, quick paycheck roles where he comes in for a couple of days and leaves. And the movies of course are sold on his name, he's on the cover like he's the lead and then when you watch the movie he pops up and disappears throughout it and is only in a few scenes.

Like Sniper: Special Ops. He's the only one on the cover, and the synopsis is all about his character, but figuring from Fred Olen Ray's Facebook updates, he might have only worked for one day, 2-3 at the most.

Now that it's known that he's up for these shorter gigs, more and more producers will offer them to him, since they save money by hiring him for only less than a week as opposed to three weeks. I have a feeling we won't be getting too many Seagal movies where he's the legitimate lead anymore.
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Daniel Zirilli (director Asian Connection):

From interview The Action Elite:

So I co-wrote this with Tom Sizemore, and he was going to be in it, but I ended up doing a deal and I had a really good conversation with Steven Seagal, based on his notes, and then we knocked it out. I know he has a reputation, but I think we had a fantastic working relationship. He’s very opinionated, but that’s okay. Like I said, I listen to feedback but ultimately he did what I wanted to do. He’s a tough guy, but I think he comes off very well in the movie. I would work with him again.


Here is the whole interview:

http://theactionelite.com/2016/04/all-new-interview-with-daniel-zirilli/
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Director Don Michael Paul (Half Past Dead) about Seagal:

"Thanks for all the support everyone. Steven Seagal, to be honest, was not goot t to work with. He's just not very good to people and he doesn't show up to work. So most of the time I was shooting with stunt doubles and body doubles. Sorry if that disappoints you, but he's not a good guy. Having worked with him once, I would not do it again under any circumstance. Keep in touch and thanks for you kind thoughts...."
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Director Mink (Into The Sun) about Seagal:

Yo m.... My experience with Steven was terrific. I was working on a project very near to his heart as it was set in Tokyo and Steven had lived there for years and speaks fluent Japanese. The only difficulties came from stretchin the budget & schedule to work in Tokyo and Thailand with a multi langauge speaking cast. I however am very greatful for him giving me the shot to work with him on such a personal project he wrote. I think we made a great movie together and if another project was right for both of us I would love to go around again. Peace...Thanks for the props on the movie... ciao mink
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Director Anthony Hickox (Submerged) about Seagal"

He is a nightmare! He's impossible; he doesn't turn up, he refuses to say any line that's written, it's just ridiculous. I sat back when I was making it [Submerged (2005)] and said "I'm a better director than this" so I went back to what I like to do, which is write and direct horror.
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
The real story behind Submerged:

Basically, Anthony Hickox and Steven Seagal did not speak to each other during the shoot. The thing is Hickox had written a very good script involving the submarine, a deep-sea extraterrestrial creature à la Deep Rising and the Seagal character was supposed to be a bitter old drunken captain, something different from the usual Seagal character. Hickox described his project as "The Thing in a submarine" or "The Thing meets Das Boot".

Now Seagal agreed to the terms of the contract and reportedly said to Hickox he loved the script. Except he lied : during a party at Seagal's house, the star told producer Avi Lerner that he had changed his mind and didn't want to play in a creature feature. So Lerner decided to rework the script into the Submerged that you've seen and persuaded Douglas Hickox to stay aboard the film. Hickox admits that at the time he really needed the money and did his best to make the best movie possible.

Seagal hated the script and tried to change it everyday on the set. He also tried to have Anthony Hickox fired but Avi Lerner refused to do that. As a result, Seagal quit the movie who was finished using different body doubles for the large shots and for all the scenes Seagal's seen from the back. Later, Seagal came back on set for one week and Hickox confronted him : "Say Steven, why do you do this movie if you hate it so much? You hate the film and you even hate yourself for doing it!"... The only response from Seagal was his famous "Seagal smile". Didn't say a word.

Years later Hickox said in an interview for french magazine Mad Movies that the only reason Seagal made the film was because he was paid $ 5 000 000. According to Hickox, Seagal doesn't even like movies anymore, he's just doing it for the money. He was supposed to be on set everyday at 9a.m. but never came before 1p.m. mostly because he had spent the night with his friends and bodyguards visiting bulgarian prostitutes. Then, once he was on set he ate dinner with his own personal cook, which always took about two hours, then fooled around with his bodyguards. Basically Hickox and the whole crew had to wait for His Majesty to be ready. Furthermore, Seagal shouted "action" and "cut", totally ignoring Hickox's presence on set. And he often said lines that were nowhere to be seen in the script.

Later Avi Lerner sued Steven Seagal becaused the actor refused to come back to post-synchronize the movie.

Hickox said he'd never make another film with Seagal. He also said his experience working with the star was the exact opposite of working with Dolph Lundgren (on Storm Catcher and Jill Rips) who was a real pro and a gentleman. Hickox also said : "I don't mind an actor being difficult. William Hurt (The Contaminated Man) was difficult but he's a genius and he was only being difficult in the sense that he really wanted to make the best movie possible. And I admire that. Being difficult because you've spent the entire night with bulgarian prostitutes and are too tired to even show up on set? That I don't admire..."
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
From another interview with Hickox:

http://www.ukhorrorscene.com/cops-a...e-retrospective-with-director-anthony-hickox/

Irregardless of how problematic Kensit and Payne may have been, their behaviour was surely a cakewalk compared to the hell martial arts bloater Steven Seagal inflicted upon Hickox whilst making the 2005 dud Submerged. “Well, the script for Submerged was brilliant, I have to say,” he sighs. “It started life as a full on horror and sci-fi. I just thought wouldn’t it be great if you were stuck at the bottom of the ocean with fucking aliens on your submarine! So that was the original idea, and we story boarded it and we designed the creatures; like these little, mini kind of crab insects that could go down the drains of the submarine so you’d never know when they were coming. It was really interesting. And then Seagal came on board.”. So that’s how it turned into just another one of his garbled, straight-to-DVD action flicks? “Yeah. I met him at his house – which is when I should have realised it was all going to go wrong – but he was like “I love the script blah blah blah” and then I get a phone call like three weeks before we started shooting. We’d planned everything and he was like “I don’t think this movie should be on a submarine”. Erm, but it’s called Submerged and it is on a submarine! And then he was like “But I want a big opera scene,” – I mean, this is literally how it happened – “I want an opera scene!” But, you’re on a submarine! “Yeah, well I’ve decided I don’t like aliens and I don’t like monsters. I don’t want to be in a monster movie”. And basically that’s why it ended up like it did. We had no clue what we were doing: no script, and the whole mind control thing in the final film was made up the last week before shooting! It was really insane. At that point, again I should have quit, but I needed the cash.”
 

Administrator

Administrator
Staff member
Director Mink (Into The Sun) about Seagal:

Yo m.... My experience with Steven was terrific. I was working on a project very near to his heart as it was set in Tokyo and Steven had lived there for years and speaks fluent Japanese. The only difficulties came from stretchin the budget & schedule to work in Tokyo and Thailand with a multi langauge speaking cast. I however am very greatful for him giving me the shot to work with him on such a personal project he wrote. I think we made a great movie together and if another project was right for both of us I would love to go around again. Peace...Thanks for the props on the movie... ciao mink
mink posted quite a few messages in the Into The Sun review thread, great guy and movie was decent too. http://www.steven-seagal.net/xen/index.php?threads/into-the-sun-reviews.4445/

Still got my Japanese Special Edition DVD too.
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Ron Balicki about the Gene leBell story. He posted this on facebook when someone asked him about this. The post is from today!


Are you talking about the bullshitter, Gene Lebell? The guy who says that he choked Steven out, which is a big, big lie. You mean the Gene who actually is a murderer who went to jail and got out of a technicality, that Gene? You should look that up. That's a fact, not a fairytale like that bs Gene spins.


No story gains traction quite so quickly, in today’s media frenzy environment, than one that tears down a well respected celebrity. In this instance, there is a fairytale rendition of how the great Gene Lebell choked out Steven Seagal, with rather unpleasant effect. The story is patently false, but this bit of martial arts mythology now seems to have really taken root. Trashing the reputation of a martial artist and movie icon may be a sad part of the entertainment process, but when the story is not correct, and the consequences truly damaging, the situation must be set straight. I can speak to this myth personally as I am close to the people in these circles and was an eyewitness to the exchange that day between Gene and Steven. Know that this is not easy for me to do. My family and I know both Gene and Steven well, so to see this malicious urban legend live on through the years divides people we care about deeply.

There were numerous people present on the day when Gene Lebell met Steven Seagal and allegedly fought. In reality, no fight occurred and there was no contact between Gene and Steven on that movie set. Gene’s role was to work as a Utility Stuntman under the stunt coordinator, Conard Palmisano. Steven also had two bodyguards present who were LAPD officers. As his security specialists and professional law enforcement officials, they would both have been in serious trouble had they let their boss get choked out, and possibly killed, by a marginal stuntman. The stunt coordinator, Conrad Palmisono was there and witnessed any interactions that occurred between Gene and Steven. Conrad Pamisano was one of the most successful Stunt coordinators working in show business at the time. The legal exposure and professional consequences for Conrad would have been severe had he let a stuntman under his supervision aggressively even touch any star on a movie set. Quite simply, Conrad, as a professional with great responsibility, would never have allowed this situation to occur.

Another stuntman by the name of Steve Lambert was also an eyewitness to Gene’s and Steven’s brief interaction. He also stated that Gene never choked out Steven and that no altercation ever occurred. Again, this is not some street fight, or casual dojo situation. If such an altercation happened on a professional movie set the consequences for the producers, directors and the movie studio would be most severe. A stuntman (Lebell) simply cannot choke out and hurt the lead star of a movie in production on the set. The legal liability and damage to their professional reputations would be unthinkable. Quite simply the set would have been closed down. If the star lost consciousness a doctor’s signed release would be legally required for Steven to go back to work. No such record exists. The bonding company who insures the production for the movie would have sued Lebell for the loss of working days. The financial implications would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars given the cost of shutting down production even for a couple of days. Again, keep in mind that we are talking about an alleged fight on a professional movie set. The consequences of such an altercation would be enormous. Casual altercations might happen in the gym, but not on the highly regulated and professionally managed stage of a movie production.

In truth, this story is nothing more than WWE type hype in which Gene Lebell is known to indulge going back to his early wrestling days. He is doing the same thing with Ronda Rousey today. Gene Lebell is now saying that she (Ronda) can beat up Bruce Lee; what could be more absurd? What could get more attention? This entirely fabricated story is simply a way of staying in the public eye and making a living at the expense of the reputation of another. There are radio shows like Joe Rogan and others who validate this ludicrous fiction in order to increase their ratings. Ronda Rousey, and some others, are also telling this story during interviews for their own self-promotion. In a recent interview Ronda stated that she knows the story to be true. That is ridiculous; she was 3 years old when this allegedly happened. It seems that this made up altercation is simply part of the sad story of American media and the cult of celebrity. We build up stars with respect and then enjoy a good story, true or not, that tears them down. Clearly that is the case here. This entirely fabricated story has legs because it creates good hype for side-show acts that need attention and boosts ratings for gossip radio talk shows. The facts are quite clear; Gene never choked out Steven. But as the old proverb says, “never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.


We actually have video of all those that were present that day when Gene met Steven. They all say Gene is telling a major lie. Conrad is major pissed a Gene.We actually have video of all those that were present that day when Gene met Steven. They all say Gene is telling a major lie. Conrad is major pissed a Gene.
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
From an interview with Linden Ashby:

http://theactionelite.com/2016/08/linden-ashby‏-interview/

CD: There was another film of yours we covered in the book, AGAINST THE DARK with Steven Seagal.

LA: Oh my god, yeah, I was in that one. I’m not sure I should admit it but I don’t think I’ve watched that one. Was it good?

CD: Um….not really. It didn’t turn out so good, it had nothing to do with you or the acting, it just didn’t come together very well.

LA: Um, yeah, well I actually have pretty mixed feelings about Steven Seagal. I respect what he accomplished as an actor and he became this huge star, but I know too many guys that he actually hurt.

There’s just too many stunt guys I know and he hurt them. He doesn’t pull his punches, he doesn’t pull anything and just beats the shit out of stunt guys.

CD: At the signing, we had several different directors, writers, and actors like James Lew and Don “The Dragon” Wilson and these guys all talked an no one had anything nice to say about Seagal.

LA: Yeah, and I really like James Lew, such a nice guy. I don’t think Seagal and I will ever be friends at any point in time so I don’t have to worry about what I say. No, I don’t approve of what he does or how he works. It’s not cool to hurt people, it’s not real fighting, there’s just no excuse.
 
Top