Gui
New Member
UK 'EMPIRE' MAGAZINE - March 2007
Interview by Nick De Semlyen
-Talk us through your fighting style.
It incorporates kung Fu, Tai Chi, Karate, Akido and Jujitsu. It's a pretty unique melting pot.
- Do you do your own stunts?
I do everything that's doable by a normal human being. I don't generally jump through windows or off roofs.
- When were you last in a real fight?
I haven't had an altercation for a long time. I don't really remember.
- What's your work-out routine?
I do some treadmill work, some stretching, some martial arts, some weights.
- What did you do before movies?
I spent my youth in Japan getting into trouble, all this silly gangster stuff. When you're young and stupid and want to try out what you've learned , you walk through areas where you know trouble's gonna be. And trouble will always finds you.
- How did you break into Hollywood?
I did special security operations for some kings and queens and monarchs. In 1985 I came back to America to write. People kept saying , '' Steven, we like your stories. We want to see you fight in front of a camera.''
- What do you think is your best film?
Fire Down Below came out exactly right. I also like Under Siege, which I did a lot of rewriting on. I completely redid the Tommy Lee Jones character, who was a flat, boring guy in the beginning. You're nothing without a great nemesis.
- Any regrets?
I had a bad director on Hard To Kill, and Exit Wounds wasn't a very professional place to be. I don't regret my death in Executive Decision. I kind of wanted to do it to shock people. They gave me a lot of money - Like, a million dollars a day - so I just thought, ''**** it, let's try.''
- What's the best fight or stunt you've done?
I'll tell you a funny story. When Bruce Lee's boy died, I went to the funeral and walked up to Danny Inosanto,the knife guru. I said, ''Man,it's so terrible.'' He says, '' yeah, it's so terrible...'' (pause) '' But that knife fight, man, in Under Siege, that was ****ing amazing!'' ( laughs) It is pretty cool.
- What movies do you enjoy?
My favourite of this film era is regarding Henry. Then I love horror movies. The Chinese ghost stories, like Ringu - I kept telling everyone in Hollywood this is gonna to be the trend, but nobody listened. The last DVD I rented was the new The Hills Have Eyes. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't like the lighting.
- What do you think of other action stars?
There's a white boy who once tried to do chicken**** stuff with Bruce Lee who to this day is a large asshole. And there's another person out there who's always tried to copy me. I think among the real professionals there's a camaraderie, but with the pussies there is some jealousy. I will say that most of the so-called action stars these days don't do anything for real.
- What do you like to do outside of movies?
I don't want to talk about the great successes I've had in the environmental world, though I have had some. I've shut down dirty toxic plants that were desecrating the earth . There's the music, which is my first love - I play real traditional Blues with my band Thunderbox. I studied pathology in Asia for a year and formulated my own energy drink ( Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt). I took some amazing herbs and I made the healthiest energy drink in the world. I'm excited about it.
- Is there a Seagal life philosophy?
I believe we have all lived lives before and start to remember secret memories as we grow up. I subconsciously started leaning towards the Orient and martial arts. My old Buddhist teachers have identified the person I was in a past life. (17th century monk Chungdrag Dorje). I have to believe it, but I don't dwell on it.
- What ambitions do you have left?
I've said this before, but it's a shame that a large group of people with the money just want to see me do one thing and that's action. It's extremely disappointing. There's an epic I want to make, about Will Adam, a British Lord who was asked by the queen in the 15th century to go find gold. I want to make a movie about Genghis Khan. I want to make some comedy, like the commercial I did with Orange. But more than movies, I hope to make the world a better place. To protect nature and stop people dying, that's what I want to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------S T A T S
BORN : April 10th, 1951 in Michigan, USA.
FIRST SEEN : Nico ( 1988)
LAST SEEN : Flight Of Fury ( 2006)
AKA : Casey Ryback, Jonathan Cold, Mason Storm
KILLER ONE_LINER : ''I'm gonna take you to the bank...The blood bank.'' (Hard To Kill)
SAMPLE TAGLINE : '' Either you're with him or you're dead.'' (Shadow Man)
DID YOU KNOW? : A white dog once saved his life in Japan, by waking him up when his dojo was on fire. He never saw the dog again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enjoy,
Much love and energy to you all,
Interview by Nick De Semlyen
-Talk us through your fighting style.
It incorporates kung Fu, Tai Chi, Karate, Akido and Jujitsu. It's a pretty unique melting pot.
- Do you do your own stunts?
I do everything that's doable by a normal human being. I don't generally jump through windows or off roofs.
- When were you last in a real fight?
I haven't had an altercation for a long time. I don't really remember.
- What's your work-out routine?
I do some treadmill work, some stretching, some martial arts, some weights.
- What did you do before movies?
I spent my youth in Japan getting into trouble, all this silly gangster stuff. When you're young and stupid and want to try out what you've learned , you walk through areas where you know trouble's gonna be. And trouble will always finds you.
- How did you break into Hollywood?
I did special security operations for some kings and queens and monarchs. In 1985 I came back to America to write. People kept saying , '' Steven, we like your stories. We want to see you fight in front of a camera.''
- What do you think is your best film?
Fire Down Below came out exactly right. I also like Under Siege, which I did a lot of rewriting on. I completely redid the Tommy Lee Jones character, who was a flat, boring guy in the beginning. You're nothing without a great nemesis.
- Any regrets?
I had a bad director on Hard To Kill, and Exit Wounds wasn't a very professional place to be. I don't regret my death in Executive Decision. I kind of wanted to do it to shock people. They gave me a lot of money - Like, a million dollars a day - so I just thought, ''**** it, let's try.''
- What's the best fight or stunt you've done?
I'll tell you a funny story. When Bruce Lee's boy died, I went to the funeral and walked up to Danny Inosanto,the knife guru. I said, ''Man,it's so terrible.'' He says, '' yeah, it's so terrible...'' (pause) '' But that knife fight, man, in Under Siege, that was ****ing amazing!'' ( laughs) It is pretty cool.
- What movies do you enjoy?
My favourite of this film era is regarding Henry. Then I love horror movies. The Chinese ghost stories, like Ringu - I kept telling everyone in Hollywood this is gonna to be the trend, but nobody listened. The last DVD I rented was the new The Hills Have Eyes. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't like the lighting.
- What do you think of other action stars?
There's a white boy who once tried to do chicken**** stuff with Bruce Lee who to this day is a large asshole. And there's another person out there who's always tried to copy me. I think among the real professionals there's a camaraderie, but with the pussies there is some jealousy. I will say that most of the so-called action stars these days don't do anything for real.
- What do you like to do outside of movies?
I don't want to talk about the great successes I've had in the environmental world, though I have had some. I've shut down dirty toxic plants that were desecrating the earth . There's the music, which is my first love - I play real traditional Blues with my band Thunderbox. I studied pathology in Asia for a year and formulated my own energy drink ( Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt). I took some amazing herbs and I made the healthiest energy drink in the world. I'm excited about it.
- Is there a Seagal life philosophy?
I believe we have all lived lives before and start to remember secret memories as we grow up. I subconsciously started leaning towards the Orient and martial arts. My old Buddhist teachers have identified the person I was in a past life. (17th century monk Chungdrag Dorje). I have to believe it, but I don't dwell on it.
- What ambitions do you have left?
I've said this before, but it's a shame that a large group of people with the money just want to see me do one thing and that's action. It's extremely disappointing. There's an epic I want to make, about Will Adam, a British Lord who was asked by the queen in the 15th century to go find gold. I want to make a movie about Genghis Khan. I want to make some comedy, like the commercial I did with Orange. But more than movies, I hope to make the world a better place. To protect nature and stop people dying, that's what I want to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------S T A T S
BORN : April 10th, 1951 in Michigan, USA.
FIRST SEEN : Nico ( 1988)
LAST SEEN : Flight Of Fury ( 2006)
AKA : Casey Ryback, Jonathan Cold, Mason Storm
KILLER ONE_LINER : ''I'm gonna take you to the bank...The blood bank.'' (Hard To Kill)
SAMPLE TAGLINE : '' Either you're with him or you're dead.'' (Shadow Man)
DID YOU KNOW? : A white dog once saved his life in Japan, by waking him up when his dojo was on fire. He never saw the dog again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enjoy,
Much love and energy to you all,
