This got the people at Cannon re-thinking Bloodsport and they decided to do a test run on the west coast. She loved it. When he saw he had to walk [across] an I-beam to me, and I threw a jumping spin heel kick on the ledge of the building there, he goes: Holy shit." I made a joke and it just took him out of it, snapped him out of it.Blake Harris: Laughter is the best medicine, right?Frank Dux: I took him out of it. And I said, "Okay, Sheldon, you get the credits, and then when you get up to the next level, you just bring me up." Hit the Subscribe button to track updates in Player FM, or paste the feed URL into other podcast apps. But Mark had permission to use his name and to basically say that this was a real story. 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. We even made a movie together, my 16mm short Firefight, which I gave him a major role in. So he started taking me to construction sites where I could get work. 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. He had a karate background. Jean-Claude had a three picture deal with Menahem at Cannon and Leon was very impressed with Jean-Claude; we all thought this was a match made in heaven. If they'd actually served. But instead, he went back on his word and he did everything in his power to hold me down. And what really grabbed Sheldon's attention was the fights.Blake Harris: So what happened with the script? Using tech he got from Lex Luthor, Bloodsport teleported a rifle that fired Kryptonite needles into his hands and shot Superman with it. It's a tale so amazing that two months after the film's release, it was dismissed by the L.A. Times as nothing but a fabricated "macho fantasy." And I said, "To be the best you've gotta fight the best. How else could you get a hold of this? And he was an idol of Jean-Claude's too.Blake Harris: Yeah? Give me a shot with him." However, speaking of the UFC, Frank Dux does have a tangential connection to the UFC. Jean-Claude's character comes to the US to help out his brother, not with anything like revenge or violence on his mind. I still had not yet met Jean-Claude at this time. Neither of them was about a martial arts tournament, and neither of them was ever produced. Paul, June, and Jason discuss the 1994 science fiction comedy Tammy and the T-Rex. How blindsided were you when the piece came out?Frank Dux: Well, there was nothing I could do. I said, "You're trying to prove to yourself that you could do it. Plus the guy was just an idol of mine. And they weren't returning phone calls. And it wasn't even for the right trophy. And it may be a typical Hollywood story, but you still never see it coming. And so he told Menahem, "Sell it to me and I'll release it theatrically." How did that come about?Sheldon Lettich: Well, it's interesting. You said "we were working on a sequel." I mean, they put it on the shelf for two years. 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. And Jean-Claude's got a really good sense of how a fight scene should be edited. And at the Invitationals, there's Bruce Lee. That it would be helpful and therapeutic.Blake Harris: And was it? It was horrible. Told that the tournament was a secret, he said: "We would know. Especially when it comes to the military. In the DC Extended Universe, Robert DuBois is played by Idris Elba in the . I need to tell you about something that happened first. And so the ink was barely dry when I drove right over to Moshe's house and we signed a deal to do what became Double Impact.Blake Harris: From a technological standpoint, what were some of the biggest challenges with shooting two Jean-Claudes?Sheldon Lettich: The biggest challenges were that we were still using old technology. What follows is the rest of our conversation Blake Harris: Given that you were mentioned several times in my interview with Frank, I can't help but start off by asking how surprised and/or frustrated you were to see the things he said?Sheldon Lettich: Frustrated? I met Gladys, the woman of my dreams, I had a baby, and I'm miserable. All of this was prior to Bloodsport. Especially when you believe that person is your friend.Frank Dux: Exactly. So I watched that happen and then I watched Victor Moore fight Chuck Norris.Blake Harris: Moore fought Bruce Lee and then Chuck Norris? None of that is reported. Thus, gladiatorial combats originally possessed a sacred significance. And everybody had their picture taken with me, and I don't recall anyone having their picture taken with Sheldon, outside of his friends. 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. I met this guy Sheldon Lettich, who had done a play called Tracers and we became friends. How did you feel afterwards?Frank Dux: It was an enlightening moment. At that point, it was to their advantage. I always try to look for the best in people. I'll tell you one thing: When I was there, I got a standing ovation. They were just being assholes.Blake Harris: That seemed to happen a lot at CannonSheldon Lettich: Now Blake, I have never filed a lawsuit against anyone in this business, but I filed a lawsuit against those guys, against Cannon. I told Menahem that the new cut of Bloodsport was great and I thought it was going to do really well. Like, very famously, he turned down Demolition Man. And he was brought to our attention through Sheldon. After directing Jean-Claude in Double Impact [1991] and Lionheart [1990] before that, was there any reason you didn't want to be involved with writing or directing?Sheldon Lettich: That was right after another movie I did called Only the Strong [1993] and I seemed to have a lot of other things going on. 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. And here's the thing that gets me about how stupid people are. It was called Firebase and was basically Zulu in Vietnam; about a small disparate group forced together on a Firebase that gets attacked by an overwhelming number of North Vietnamese. 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 at this point in time I don't think it's going to happen.Blake Harris: Ah, too bad. Though defeated, this wasn't the last the heroes of the DC Universe saw of Bloodsport. There's not a Tanaka in Japanese history of the ninja families? Blake Harris: Since martial arts is, and has been, such a large part of your life, I was wondering if it was also a large part of your childhood.Frank Dux: Actually, no. And Menahem was dead set against it.Blake Harris: Why?Sheldon Lettich: [Laughing at the memory] His word for Jean-Claude was "poison." But the real contest was just punches to the chest, and Moore beat Lee like 4-2. At one point it was the second most profitable article they'd ever written. I turned over the programs from the fights that we had in those days. I should also back up and say that I was really poor growing up. Bloodsport: Directed by Newt Arnold. That was the real Sheldon Lettich. Jean-Claude saw Menahem on the street, did a U-Turn and said, "Hey Menahem, remember me? 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! And he just started laughing and he says, "Frank, you're crazy. Actually, I should back up. I told Jean-Claude I might be getting the rights back to Corsican Brothers so he got Moshe on board. Occasionally he'd come by the studio. I also was never AWOL. That was a term, from England, when they used to fight dogs. Three months later, it formally opened at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles to rave reviews. 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. Frank lost that case. During my intelligence career, I have met with and been introduced to many covert operatives, whose existence has often been officially denied by the government agencies that these parties have been associated with. How are you going to get enough guys to fight against Michael who are even going to match his size? Menahem says, "Oh, Corsican Brothers, that's perfect for Jean-Claude! Anyways, they didn't pay me for doing my work on The Corsican Brothers and Delta Force 2. And he was friendly to me. I had my then-fianc back in the United States get all the uniforms for them. What was the reaction like from Sheldon, Jean-Claude and Mark [DiSalle]?Frank Dux: They didn't care at that point. Rambo was always a reluctant badass.Sheldon Lettich: Yeah, you've really gotta push him to fight. And apparently it did huge business. And then there's another story where he met Menahem and did it another way in Monaco. Enter the Ninja?Sheldon Lettich: No, there was no script prior to the "Bloodsport" script. 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. How involved were you with that reshaping?Frank Dux: Every day, when Sheldon was writing the script, I would be in the office with him and Mark DiSalle, the producer. You try to get him to do a judo throw and he couldn't throw anybody. It chronicles his training by a Japanese master warrior named Tiger [Tanaka]Shoto Tanemura, a Japanese who is one of a select group of recognized Ninja masters in the world, said in an interview in Los Angeles last week that he had never heard of Dux or Tanaka. By this time we knew that Frank was full of baloney with a lot of the stuff that he was saying about his life. And they've never wavered from that.Blake Harris: The kick?Sheldon Lettich: Yeah. 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. When. They were doing a showing of Bloodsport in a theater in my old home town and I just happened to be visiting. He was totally against any kind of steroids. Start Free Trial. I literally wrote a good majority of that script with Sheldon, but I never got credit for it. But Norris was the one, I think, who they declared as the winner. Even though we thought the movie was better, Menahem didn't. One of the only places where we initially differed was with the entry point. And were just digging this whole notion of Jean-Claude being a Legionnaire. Which was Mike's move. This was all very, very low budget. But I didn't sleep with a reporter beforehand and I certainly didn't break into my instructor's house and steal a sword. And then one day I get invited down to the Long Beach Invitationals. Frank and I did write a couple of scripts together, and he received credit on both of them. And that relationship led to other things down the road, as you know, but meanwhile my script Firebase was going around. 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. And then he said, "What the hell are we doing out here?" And Tanaka was well known. On this episode of Matinee Monday, Paul Scheer looks back at the "How Did This Get Made?" episode with Nicole Byer on the 1988 cult f. And I totally separated it. Nobody clapped or wanted to have their picture taken with you. I was too close to it. And so, you know, it was just a nice fit. It worked great. One of these covert operatives was one Frank Dux. 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. 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. You know, there's a certain romanticism to that. 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? And we actually got hired by Motown to write this script! And I'll never forgetand I'm terrified of heights, by the way. 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. Bloodsport is the name of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.All of these versions exist in DC's main shared universe, known as the DC Universe.. Around this time, Leon Isaac Kennedy [from The White House All Stars] had been in in a Chuck Norris movie called Lone Wolf McQuade and there was talk about doing a Part Two. He's a real talent when it comes to that. And he turns to me and he says: "You know, Frankie, I signed a five-picture deal. It was "Dukes." The Robert DuBois version of Bloodsport made his live-action debut in the television series Supergirl, played by David St. Louis. The character is initially depicted as a vengeful veteran of the Vietnam War, angry at the people of Metropolis for their "senseless . What is he, a walking dictionary of a secret society? Both of them wanted to be the cop.Blake Harris: That's so funny (though it makes sense).Sheldon Lettich: It just couldn't be worked out so the project fell by the wayside until they got Stallone and Wesley Snipes to be in it. So when I finally connected with Lettich, I worried that there might be some not-so-flattering words headed my way. "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 he says, "What?" "He was a peaceful accountantuntil he was PUSHEDTOOFAR!" So my agent sent him Firebase and he responded very enthusiastically. In the early to mid 90s, dinosaurs were soooo cool! What was all this camaraderie about? And the one twinning shot would sell it and it worked surprisingly well.Blake Harris: The next movie you worked on with Jean-Claude was his directorial debut, The Quest [1996], but only in the capacity of script polishing. 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. But when we found out Frank Dux was going to be there, we realized that this could go very, very bad, very quickly. And there's a census bureau report saying that he was exactly in the place I was when he trained me. And we ended up settling. 2. level 2. And I remember watching a movie where James Bond was doing jujitsu. And then there was the famous meeting between Jean-Claude and Menahem on La Cienega Boulevard. 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 on it he writes: To the Man Who Beat Me. There were a number of people who really liked it. Menahem had also seen the little 16mm movie [Firefight] I directed and was going to give me my first directing deal.Blake Harris: For you to direct a Lone Wolf McQuade sequel starring Leon Isaac Kennedy and Chuck Norris?Sheldon Lettich: Yes, except that Chuck didn't want to do it. Sheldon Lettich: Yeah. 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. So he met me on the roof of the Victoria hotel. Well later on it comes out in court and it's a picture that they took of me on that pamphlet. You know, Jean-Claude was totally overwhelmed when he got to work with Stallone on Expendables 2. Commander Alexander Martin available for review. Roger Moore co-starred along side Van Damme in The Quest (1996) ironically playing a James Bond actor which Frank Dux had said inspired him to learn martial arts in the first place. So the play was groundbreaking in some ways. I remember paying for the uniforms. But I learned to conquer it, okay? Jean-Claude?Frank Dux: When we started? Did that piece directly lead to Bloodsport? So Grant's dad, he basically saw that I was struggling to make money so our family could eat and I could buy myself shoes. In downtown L.A. And I go: Well, just do me a favor. Then for Double Impact we thought: let's just go for it. He taught at the Nakano spy school in Japan. But the fights in the story were all real. Very well known. And then they had me give up my net points on the film.Blake Harris: Really?Frank Dux: Yeah, for Jean-Claude to have his career, I gave up my net points. It can't happen.". Bloodsport (original trailer 720p en) Watch on 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,. That movie's terrible; I'm putting it straight to video. You know, where people go around wearing medals and talking about their fictional war exploits.Blake Harris: That actually makes for a good, non-Frank-related jumping off point. And he's in this movie called No Retreat, No Surrender. 5 years ago. I mean, the guy announced his malice. So I started doing a Howard Cosell imitation and that's where I came up with the term Bloodsport. 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. Joseph Papp heard about it, so he brought the show to the Public Theatre in New York. None of it.Blake Harris: InterestingFrank Dux: And Shoto Tanemura, he says he's never heard of a Dukes or a Tanaka? This is the kind of bond we had. This thingwhatever it was calledit was really cool and it would be a cool way to meet chicks.Blake Harris: And how did you go from passively enjoying these things to actual participating and learning how to fight?Frank Dux: I guess one of the things that helped push me in that direction was that I befriended a kid named Grant who had it far worse than myself. JCVD RE-EDITED THE MOVIE HIMSELF TO GET IT . And he agreed to that. That's not even my name. What made you such an extraordinary fighter?Frank Dux: Well, you know what? Please note as always our subject'sopinions, recollections and claims are his own, and do not reflect the views of the author or this publication. So I thought that it was a good idea to keep my options open. "Frank Dux: Yeah. Ian Fleming based his characters on real people. It was just a way to release it. He did everything to basically poison the well with Jean-Claude and everybody I worked with. During that time, he's never felt like he had a platform to defuse those lies and tell his side of the storyuntil now. You allow other people just a little glimpse into what that experience was like and to feel it themselves. During the tournament, Dux battles an array of international fighters from various schools of martial arts. 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. He was pure, he didn't do drugs. The 20 episodes of How Did This Get Made listed below offer a taste of the world that the hosts have built. 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. And if somebody tells me they were in Vietnam, and in the Marine Corps, I'll believe them. 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: [laughter]Sheldon Lettich: I tried to make my case. We liked the fact that we were able to do something different there. That's just point of the absurdity of the whole thing.Blake Harris: And, when you were there, how did the reporter respond to all this?Frank Dux: I embarrassed the hell out of him. 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. Along with Alexander Martin.To this point, on http://frankdux.net/facts/ there is a signed declaration by Lt. He actually challenged me to a fight. 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. He liked the authenticity in it and he'd heard about Tracers also. That's how Frank and I met.Blake Harris: Do you remember what your first meeting was like?Sheldon Lettich: We hit it off right away. And he showed up and said, "I see he didn't show up." And that's pretty much what Double Impact isBlake Harris: I read online that you might be writing a sequel to Double Impact? And I said, "If you're gonna go, just don't pull me with you." He went in and redid it. He's in a documentary saying this. It wasn't until they allowed Jean-Claude to go in and recut the film that everything came together and it worked. Leon hired me to write a script, which Menahem ended up liking. They liked the idea, liked the script, and decided to go ahead and do it as a low-budget movie. I imagine it's hard to write a personal, firsthand account like that.Frank Dux: Here's the thing. And so yeah. 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." He frickin' landed on his head, in front of all my students. He's also said it under oath by the way and identified me. Why not make a budd. You gotta admire the fact that he wanted to get a real Vietnam vet working on the script with him. No, never. "He's written this Vietnam novel," my agent said, "that the novel's way too long and overwritten. Like, for example, about your teacher?Frank Dux: They try to make it sound like I made up my instructor. 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. Blake Harris: You had mentioned earlier on that Bloodsport sat on the shelf for two yearsFrank Dux: Yeah, for two years it sat on the shelf. Brought his wife with him and we just hit it off, right from the getgo. We just became friends almost immediately. The whole martial arts thing. And then the fight was on. It was ridiculous what they had. I don't know if the word "genius" is maybe taking it too high, but this is a very smart creative guy who is very much underappreciated. I remember him saying, "Michael Dudikoff is a movie star! 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 afraid to taste it, because I'm allergic to shellfish. I remember us going back to his apartment and the thing was entirely full.Blake Harris: Did Menahem change his tune about Jean-Claude?Sheldon Lettich: Well, yes and no. So I said, "As long as you're going to have martial arts, why not get Frank?" And he was just a different person. And the receipt was dated 1982, okay? In fact, Midway Games attempted to license Van Damme's image for the game. A lot of it was based on the recollections of my friend Kurt Taylor, who I wrote the script with. Nowadays it's all kind of clich. But they called me from Hong KongFrank and Jean-Claudelamenting the fact that "Mark DiSalle was messing up the script." Okay, okay, you made your point. Tiger Tanaka, right? 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. The red one, the blue one, the black one. Not what's typically expected, which was: Jean-Claude's going to find these motherf***ers and beat the s*** out of them. I mean, he couldn't do a throw. 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. For you, I mean.Sheldon Lettich: Oh yeah, oh absolutely. The film is partly based on unverified claims made by martial artist Frank Dux. He threw a ridge-hand strike and he swept him at the same time. 4. And so we had a great time. It's hard to call the young Van Damme's performance "good" in any traditional sense of the word, but . Armed with a gun that fires Kryptonite needles, Bloodsport nearly succeeded in his mission to eliminate the Man of Steel, but ultimately failed. Plus, we hear LL Cool J's hip-hop prayer and the best . Why don't you go check it out?" Plus, Bloodsport's connection with Flagg made the dynamic even better. For the first time in about 14 years. We gave our enthusiastic thumbs up and the next thing I know they're in pre-production and off to Hong Kong. But if we can cut it down, I think we can sell this novel. Originally he'd planned for it to take place in present day, but I just thought that if you've got all of these fighters coming from all of the world like they did in Bloodsportand basically he was just trying to do a different version of Bloodsportthat it would make things more interesting if, for example, this took place in the 1920s because then it becomes really difficult for all these fighters from different parts of the world to journey to this contest.Blake Harris: So Frank was originally hired to write the script for The Quest?Sheldon Lettich: Frank, and they actually put another writer on with Frank. 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.

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