Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, whereas rehearsing for Grumpy Previous Males, wound up working right into a Grumpy Younger Man in Steven Seagal.
Some time again, a terrific e book concerning the golden age of motion stars known as “The Last Action Heroes” got here out (purchase it right here). Written by Nick De Semlyen, the e book takes a really affectionate take a look at the entire icons we grew up with within the 80s and 90s, with one notable exception. Steven Seagal doesn’t come off properly within the e book – in any respect. One of many wildest tales from the e book recounts a time when Seagal grew outraged over the truth that a gathering room he wished was being occupied by the legendary Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
The 2 actors, who would have been of their late sixties then, had been collaborating in a read-through for his or her hit comedy Grumpy Previous Males. In keeping with the e book, the vibe within the room was mild, with the 2 outdated professionals cracking up their director, Daniel Petrie and assembled company. One in every of them was William Osborne, author of Twins (and – properly – Cease or My Mother Will Shoot), who mentioned the read-through was interrupted by a loud thumping on the door. In walked Seagal, who thundered on the director Petrie, “What’s going on?” Petrie answered that they had been making an attempt to do a read-through with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, to which he responded, “Well, I don’t care. I have the room.”
As Osbourne remembers, “It was just classic Steven Seagal. He finally stepped out and closed the door. But he was an absolute nutcase. He made those absolutely banging early action films and then went completely batsh*t crazy.”
Whereas it’s fairly humorous to think about what Lemmon and Matthau will need to have considered the pony-tailed Seagal yelling at them will need to have been like, there’s a tragic dimension to this story. As Osborne states, these early motion motion pictures he made had been whole classics. I’d wager his first 5 movies, Above the Regulation, Laborious to Kill, Marked for Dying, Out for Justice and Beneath Siege (by which his display screen time is surprisingly restricted), are all motion classics. But it was all downhill after that as hubris took over. For a extra constructive take a look at Seagal, try his implausible interview with fellow motion star Scott Adkins. It’s Seagal at his greatest fairly than his worst.
Whereas his standing within the business has little question modified lots (and never for the higher), Steven Seagal nonetheless did contribute lots to the craft of motion motion pictures. It’s simply too unhealthy that he fell off so badly, with many pegging On Lethal Floor because the second that basically opened to the door to the opposite, extra ego-driven facet of the actor. Try this comic story about Seagal’s response to a backhanded praise from Michael Caine on the premiere.
As for Seagal, his appearing days appear to be lengthy behind him now, with him having not made a film since Past the Regulation in 2019. Whereas his IMDB credit checklist a few motion pictures in pre-production, together with Above the Regulation 2, it appears unlikely these will occur on a really massive scale, along with his connection to Vladimir Putin following the Invasion of Ukraine particularly polarizing to followers. At any charge, one could be hard-pressed to recollect the final really first rate Seagal film. One may say possibly a few of these early DTV motion pictures like Stomach of the Beast and Into the Solar had been fairly good, however by way of field workplace, most individuals would checklist Exit Wounds as his final hurrah, though he memorably performed a villain in Machete.
