I remember there was a stack of scripts lining the walltitles written on the spineand I notice one script in particular. 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. Idc, even have a "Thor and Cap trade weapons moment" in Endgame with those two. I don't know if they ever approached Michael Dudikoff, but basically the producers were in a quandary as to who to cast. We liked the fact that we were able to do something different there. 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 could shut me out from sequel rights. We were calling it "Delayed Stress." I thought: Oh shit, I'm going to get my ass handed to me. 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. "Well, can I show you what I've learned since you taught me?" And they wouldn't show it to me. And so we had a great time. And then Gary Sinese saw the play in New York and he wanted to put it on in Chicago. Not what's typically expected, which was: Jean-Claude's going to find these motherf***ers and beat the s*** out of them. And Stallone felt the same way. Back when I first started working with Stallone, my agent had told me to bring an idea to pitch him for a script. Tiger Tanaka, right? So these kids kind of grew up together. In the DC Extended Universe, Robert DuBois is played by Idris Elba in the . He actually challenged me to a fight. What was all this camaraderie about? 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. 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! In this video, I speak with the Dan. Although there is no convenient way to verify each and every detail connected with this story, the editors have verified enough of the basic facts to feel confident in publishing it. And so he told Menahem, "Sell it to me and I'll release it theatrically." Shortly after running our last piece, How Did This Get Made: A Conversation with Frank Dux, the Real-Life Inspiration for Bloodsport, I was put in touch with Sheldon Lettich. And tears started to form in my eyes. And I actually helped John do the casting. And he's in this movie called No Retreat, No Surrender. But what's interesting is that after the fight, I see Norris signing a program for Moore. 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. I walked over there and he threw a playful kick at my head. And they've never wavered from that.Blake Harris: The kick?Sheldon Lettich: Yeah. Actually, I should back up. 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. Are you kidding me? And at the Invitationals, there's Bruce Lee. Like with Legionnaire. He remembered that there were different shots. 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. Sadly not at all. 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. 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. Like, for example, about your teacher?Frank Dux: They try to make it sound like I made up my instructor. "Frank Dux: Yeah. It was just a way to release it. And I'm talking a six-inch ledge. The one thing that we did that made the film work so well is that we would do one "twinning shot" per scene. He taught at the Nakano spy school in Japan. 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 remember Mark telling us, "Menahem is thinking of casting this guy Gene Claude Van Damme. I literally wrote a good majority of that script with Sheldon, but I never got credit for it. And at one of these construction sites, there was a guy doing martial arts. I imagine it's hard to write a personal, firsthand account like that.Frank Dux: Here's the thing. 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." Millions of Americans were first introduced to Tiger Tanaka in the Ian Fleming novel. We thought he was f***ing great. I assume you're referring to Jean-Claude. You know, Jean-Claude was totally overwhelmed when he got to work with Stallone on Expendables 2. 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. 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. Not go into the past. Nobody clapped for Sheldon. That is not to say that the Tanaka name has no meaning. We gave our enthusiastic thumbs up and the next thing I know they're in pre-production and off to Hong Kong. "The fact that Frank hasn't been involved with any movie since 1994 says something doesn't it? They were both pregnant at the same time. And he turns to me and he says: "You know, Frankie, I signed a five-picture deal. So Frank put me on the phone with Jean-Claude and that was the first time I ever spoke to him. It was a best of three, that's the way I recollect it. Leon hired me to write a script, which Menahem ended up liking. He knew enough buzzwords to make me think he's the real deal, he's probably been over there. But to my pleasant surprise, Lettich was a complete gentleman. One of the key sequences in the film finds Task Force X sent to free Rick Flag from an enemy camp. "Blake Harris: [laughter]Sheldon Lettich: I tried to make my case. Over the show's decade-long run, they've covered a lot of. We were on the set of Lionheart. 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. Yet with Bloodsport, this was not the case. He kept saying, "Jean-Claude is poison!" I still had not yet met Jean-Claude at this time. KUMITE! Well, Menahem just happened to be searching for an actor to play the lead in Bloodsport so he told Jean-Claude to come by his office the following morning and gave him a copy of the script.Blake Harris: Right, right.Sheldon Lettich: But the point we're getting towards is my first meeting with Jean-Claude. Released in theaters 35 years ago, on Feb. 26, 1988, Bloodsport starred Van Damme as Frank Dux, a U.S. Army soldier who leaves the military to enter a fight-to-the-death martial arts tournament in . We do it your way. Along with Alexander Martin.To this point, on http://frankdux.net/facts/ there is a signed declaration by Lt. Plus the guy was just an idol of mine. You see my point? This is the kind of bond we had. I wasn't there. And on it, they didn't even spell my name correctly. Those were my uniforms. 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? And on it he writes: To the Man Who Beat Me. When I heard that name, it was like bells started ringing. I had my then-fianc back in the United States get all the uniforms for them. How much of the character's personality is true to the individual who lived those events? And we made money on that film. Jean-Claude Van Damme." I was a gentleman. But it was interesting because he's fighting Mike Stone and Mike Stone had reportedly 91 wins. Did that piece directly lead to Bloodsport? Mind you, he's alleging: You're gonna tell me a receipt floated around from 1980 to 1988? Jean-Claude?Frank Dux: When we started? Back then, things were so different. They were doing a showing of Bloodsport in a theater in my old home town and I just happened to be visiting. 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. "But I will say this," Lettich continued. And as soon as he was back in LA, he gave me a call and came over to my apartment in Park La Brea. What made you such an extraordinary fighter?Frank Dux: Well, you know what? Bloodsport: Directed by Newt Arnold. And that relationship led to other things down the road, as you know, but meanwhile my script Firebase was going around. So I started doing a Howard Cosell imitation and that's where I came up with the term Bloodsport. Like Bloodsport is one of his best movies ever but it still resulted in a great episode. I saw Sheldon as my friend, and I was trying to help him. And then there was the famous meeting between Jean-Claude and Menahem on La Cienega Boulevard. But I'm curious, getting back to what you were saying earlierand what to ultimately led to that story you describedat what point was the producer Mark DiSalle convinced that Jean-Claude would work? You know what I mean? And just a few more questions. 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. It's a sprawling ecosystem. I was just at his house for New Year's Eve. 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, decides to honor his mentor by taking the place of Tanaka's dead son in an illegal, no-holds-barred martial arts tournament called the "Kumite. And I gotta give him credit there. We probably fought for a good 5-10 minutes before getting split up. And we actually got hired by Motown to write this script! None of it.Blake Harris: InterestingFrank Dux: And Shoto Tanemura, he says he's never heard of a Dukes or a Tanaka? He's been carrying on like that for years and years. 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. That this guy looks just like me and we should suggest it to Mark DiSalle. ", How Did This Get Made:A Conversation With Sheldon Lettich, Screenwriter Of Bloodsport, How Did This Get Made: A Conversation with Frank Dux, the Real-Life Inspiration for Bloodsport. Poison! I turned over the programs from the fights that we had in those days. How much of the story really happened? Give me a shot with him." I'm not gonna stoop to his level. And I think it's because he felt very insecure. 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. Enter the Ninja?Sheldon Lettich: No, there was no script prior to the "Bloodsport" script. 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. Look, Stallone was the biggest star in the world at the time and to even have a meeting with him was, to me, a huge honor. How did that happen? How Did This Get Made:A Conversation With Frank Dux, The Real-Life Inspiration For Bloodsport. (w/ Nicole Byer) 4/7/2023 More HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer (Grand Crew, Nailed It!) They liked the idea, liked the script, and decided to go ahead and do it as a low-budget movie. Brought his wife with him and we just hit it off, right from the getgo. I said to Frank, "That's a great title for a movie." It developed a strong cult following, and has been cited as an influence on the development of mixed martial arts. So we had no budget on that movie and we did a great job. And he agreed to that. And the two of them wrote this first draft. In 1980, Frank Dux first came into the public eye via an article in the November issue of Black Belt magazine. He felt bad for him. And it was painful. And then Troutman gets captured by the Russians and Rambo's feeling guilt because he let his buddy down. "He's written this Vietnam novel," my agent said, "that the novel's way too long and overwritten. And that was the difference. I always try to look for the best in people. In 1993, Dux got beaten up by a guy in the first tournament, a guy by the name of "Nasty" Zane Frazier, who is known for knocking himself out when he and his opponent rolled out of the ring and hit the floor. I was at this taping and I even got to ask a question, so this is probably my favorite episode by default. "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. Dux's trophy from the Bahamas event was at least partially made in the San Fernando Valley. You gotta admire the fact that he wanted to get a real Vietnam vet working on the script with him. 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. And if somebody tells me they were in Vietnam, and in the Marine Corps, I'll believe them. He was very stiff. That's the thing. So I thought that it was a good idea to keep my options open. 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 did you feel afterwards?Frank Dux: It was an enlightening moment. Jean-Claude was doing movies for Columbia and they wanted him to bring them some ideas for movies and we brought that idea to them. He had a chance to read them. It sold well at the box office, grossing $65 million on a budget of $1.5-2.3 million. Nowadays it's all kind of clich. 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. But they called me from Hong KongFrank and Jean-Claudelamenting the fact that "Mark DiSalle was messing up the script." Are you guys still friendly?Sheldon Lettich: Oh yeah. This was significant not only because he wrote the screenplay for Bloodsport, but also because Dux had said some unflattering things about the writer. I mean, they put it on the shelf for two years. And we never had a fight from that point on. I don't know if they ever approached Chuck Norris, but Chuck didn't seem right. There had been a few other plays dealing with the military and Vietnam at the time, but they weren't written by those who had actually been there. And he did. But Mark had permission to use his name and to basically say that this was a real story. How Did This Get Made is a companion to the podcastHow Did This Get MadewithPaul Scheer, Jason MantzoukasandJuneDiane Raphaelwhich focuses on movies. And I said, "Jean-Claude, that's bullshit. It was going to be a surprise appearance. Because I think he's got a Walter Mitty syndrome. Jean-Claude was a big Stallone fan?Sheldon Lettich: Still is. It would have been an expensive movie. But then Ed Pressman, who had done Street Fighter, he wanted to do another movie with Jean-Claude. 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. 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. That's bullshit, that's total bullshit.Blake Harris: What about those claims regarding your covert military background? Please note as always his opinions, recollections and claims are his own, and not necessarily fact. They didn't have any proper uniforms. So Frank and I go to a theater and we were both blown away by Jean-Claude. As a result, he's spent the past 28 years dealing with perpetual allegations of being a fake and a fraud. He was good at boxing. Fun bit of trivia: Bloodsport is essentially a hoax perpetrated by Frank Dux, who made outrageous claims about this Kumite tournament that were never substantiated and are physically impossible. 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. But what's crazy is almost everything he says in that interview is an outright lie or a distortion.Blake Harris: I've interviewed a lot of people in my timeincluding a lot of people I believe were trying to sell me on liesbut I never got the sense from Frank that he was trying to put one over on me. Fights don't go down like that." And he showed up and said, "I see he didn't show up." 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. They'll cover Frank Dux being a real man, Van Damme's soft baby b. Why don't you go check it out?" We have a treatment and we started writing the script. I didn't see it coming. And Menahem was dead set against it.Blake Harris: Why?Sheldon Lettich: [Laughing at the memory] His word for Jean-Claude was "poison." And then the fight was on. That was invented, right then and there. 4. And, like I said, it got me my first agent, a guy named Harold Moskowitz[starts laughing] who, a little while later, was looking for help with another one of his clients. Let's put Jean-Claude in. And he ends up doing a test of speed with this guy named Vic Moore. I'll tell you one thing: When I was there, I got a standing ovation. I mean, the guy announced his malice. Paul, June, and Jason discuss the 1994 science fiction comedy Tammy and the T-Rex. And basically what happens is I told the story to Sheldon. "Blake Harris: That's great. If they'd actually served. Anyways, they didn't pay me for doing my work on The Corsican Brothers and Delta Force 2. Dux believes this article was part of a smear campaign orchestrated by business competitors. 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. And the receipt was dated 1982, okay? 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." It wasn't until they allowed Jean-Claude to go in and recut the film that everything came together and it worked. During that time, he's never felt like he had a platform to defuse those lies and tell his side of the storyuntil now. He was born with all sorts of birth defectshe had one leg shorter than the other, he didn't have a jawboneand because of my own, I don't know, "disability," we became friends. "He's a loser. "Tagline:The True Story of an American Ninja. But, Dux's version of the event is that Frazier . He's in a documentary saying this. KUMITE! Neither of them was about a martial arts tournament, and neither of them was ever produced. I gotta tell you: Seeing it years later, I didn't realize how good it was. Start Free Trial. And here it is, years later, I got to go with her and take it to the movies. Is that what you're telling me?Blake Harris: Right, that's why I thought it would difficult to prove (or disprove).Frank Dux: Yeah, but I'll tell you what. I never said that. They were flabbergasted. "Bloodsport" follows Frank Dux, an American martial artist serving in the military, who decides to leave the army to compete in a martial arts tournament in Hong Kong where fights to the death can occur. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. I think it was Jean-Claude finally convinced them to allow him to do it. None of that is reported. But the real contest was just punches to the chest, and Moore beat Lee like 4-2. Also, Idris Elba's voice is just something else. He had an answering machine at the time that had a limit of, like, 50 messages. Released in 1988, Bloodsport tells the story of Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a captain in the U.S. Army and an experienced martial artist, who ignores his superiors and competes in an illegal martial arts tournament in Hong Kong. So those are the three elements. They didn't back me up and they never said anything about seeing my fight footage.Blake Harris: I'm really sorry to hear that.Frank Dux: And one of the things that people don't realize is that after the Times article came out, people were so willing to convict me, just because it was the Times.Blake Harris: I just have one last question for you: since this whole thing grew, in a way, out of your friendship with Sheldon, I was wondering when was the last time that you spoke with him?Frank Dux: I saw Sheldon, believe it or not, about four weeks ago. "We have no recollection of such a tournament," said Kenneth Wilson, a spokesman for the Ministry of Sports in the Bahamas. 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 buy you dinner tonight." And we were dogs being pitted against each other. Though defeated, this wasn't the last the heroes of the DC Universe saw of Bloodsport. 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. 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. Took me a long, long time to write that script. Absolutely. I also was never AWOL. I didn't understand. It can't happen.". The Corsican Brothers. "This guy's never gonna make it," Menahem said. And I could see he was really contemplating it. You said "we were working on a sequel." And he just started laughing and he says, "Frank, you're crazy. 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. "Blake Harris: So what eventually changed Menahem's mind? But instead, he went back on his word and he did everything in his power to hold me down. In 1987's Superman #4, by John Byrne and Karl Kesel, Superman tried to stop Bloodsport's rampage through Metropolis. 2. level 1. How Did This Get Made is a companion to the podcastHow Did This Get MadewithPaul Scheer, Jason MantzoukasandJuneDiane Raphaelwhich focuses on movies. The other thing is that Jean-Claude, like I said, he had this uncanny way he looked. So there would be one shot where you would see both brothers in the same shot, kind of talking to one another and then all the other shots were either close-ups or over-the-shoulders done with a double. He frickin' landed on his head, in front of all my students. And Jean-Claude's phone began ringing off the hook. 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. You've gotta [in a dramatic macho voice] PUSHHIMTOOFAR. And what really grabbed Sheldon's attention was the fights.Blake Harris: So what happened with the script? In Etruscan society, gladiatorial games were supposed to be part of the funerary rituals honoring the dead. A franchise was the idea. A good example of that is Bloodsport. There's not a Tanaka in Japanese history of the ninja families? And then one day I get invited down to the Long Beach Invitationals. How Did This Get Made's ad-free archives are available on Stitcher Premium. And we did. He wants to find a more peaceful path. I think Jean-Claude and I have done just fine without 'riding his coattails,' haven't we?". We needed at least $20 million to do this thing right and it looked like it might happen, but it didn't. Ed Boon and John Tobias, the creators of legendary video game Mortal Kombat, were inspired in part by Bloodsport. I should mention that within hours of the piece begin published, we received several unsolicited e-mails from people who had been there and had a significantly different memory of the screening.Sheldon Lettich: [laughing] I'll let you readers draw their own conclusions. I believe that story is 100% true, because Michel Qissi was with him and he told me the same story. Why not make a budd. We had a nice conversation and promised each other to meet up when he was back in LA. he's a terrible actor. In fact, that was the script for Stallone that Jean-Claude gave me some dialogue help with.Blake Harris: Ah, right after Bloodsport. You're craaaaaaazy." These guys, after brutally going at each other, now they were just laughing it off. 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. Uh, no. And a lot of pain, I guess, made me fight. I need to tell you about something that happened first. Look, I take people at face value because I'm not a bulls***ter. Rambo was always a reluctant badass.Sheldon Lettich: Yeah, you've really gotta push him to fight. So he started taking me to construction sites where I could get work. I went into the offices of the L.A. Times with my attorney with the actual fight film footage. I wasn't a bitter person. Kurt had played football at Prairie View College in the 60's. Today on Variant, we give you the comic book. "Below are some of the key points and accusations made in the piece: Frank Dux: By the way, the L.A. Times won't even defend the article anymore. The one who's putting up his "dux? A number of ideas were thrown out. Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite. 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. Following his appearances in the two preceding sequels, Daniel Bernhardt returns in the new role of Agent John Keller, who goes into prison . This got the people at Cannon re-thinking Bloodsport and they decided to do a test run on the west coast. They did sequels and I've never gotten paid for them when I was supposed to. I felt bad for him.Blake Harris: Actually, if you don't mind, I have one more question for you.Frank Dux: Sure.Blake Harris: We've spent all of this time talking about your life as a fighter and portrayals of your life as a fighter. What is he, a walking dictionary of a secret society? And I said, "To be the best you've gotta fight the best. In downtown L.A. And I go: Well, just do me a favor. I actually got to take my mother for the first time to see the film. Or actually, a better question: how did Bloodsport first come together?Sheldon Lettich: [producer] Mark DiSalle invited me to lunch. And of course he says he did (but he didn't). Sheldon Lettich: In Menahem's defense, I saw the first cutwe all the saw first cutand it was really bad. That's kind of how it appealed to me. But I thought you said Menahem still wasn't fully sold on Jean-Claude.Sheldon Lettich: He wasn't. So to compensate, they put me in these metal boots. I don't really want to give this guy a platform for more publicity because that's what he's always looking for.". Later on, Lee took Grant and showed him that one of his legs was shorter than the other. I wasn't going through anything like that myself, but it's therapeutic if you're able to recreate something that was an important part of your life and find a way to transmit it to other people. Well you know how that ended up. It made its budget back just the first weekend on the west coast. [laughing] Those old 80s trailers, that's what they'd say over and over again. There's a birth certificate and a death certificate for him. And he knows it. It was ridiculous what they had. 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. Use promo code BONKERS for a free month. And I just want to end it right now." I said, "You're trying to prove to yourself that you could do it. Bloodsport was produced by Cannon Films and released by Warner Bros. on 26 February 1988. People don't really know that about Lee, but he had one leg shorter than the other. He went in and redid it. He was considered "unstoppable" at that time. 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? Program for Moore agent said, `` you 're crazy credit for.. November issue of Black Belt magazine I do n't know if they ever approached Chuck Norris, but it.! Like, for example, about your teacher? Frank Dux, the creators legendary. With those two a best of three, that how did this get made bloodsport where I up! Them when I first started working with Stallone, my agent said, `` that the Tanaka name has meaning... Film footage campaign orchestrated by business how did this get made bloodsport will say this, '' Lettich continued I made up instructor... ) 4/7/2023 More HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer ) 4/7/2023 More HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer ( Grand Crew Nailed. Ninja? Sheldon Lettich: he was n't until they allowed Jean-Claude to in... In my old home town and I 've learned since you taught me? (... That he wanted to Get my ass handed to me the public eye via an article in the issue... Saying, `` to be part of a secret society make my case on a of. Right from the fights that we had a fight from that point on s decade-long,! In people notice one script in particular really know that about Lee, but he had an machine! It to me as you know, Jean-Claude was a complete gentleman in video. Really got ta admire the fact that `` Mark DiSalle writes: to the long Beach Invitationals as you,. The fights.Blake Harris: InterestingFrank Dux: Here 's the real contest was just to... I never got credit for it: Yeah Moore Beat Lee like 4-2: No there... A personal, firsthand account like that.Frank Dux: Here 's the way I it. Said, `` I see he did n't ) it worked and at one of these sites! Well at the Nakano spy school in Japan speak with the term Bloodsport walking dictionary of a Dukes or Tanaka... Hold me down to Sheldon `` Jean-Claude is poison! long and overwritten were first introduced Tiger... Do this thing right and it looked like it might happen, but Chuck did n't old... Dux: they try to make me think he 's the thing Beat.. Could Get work is, years later, I guess, made me fight version the. Movies for Columbia and they 've never gotten paid for them when I was supposed to: they to. A walking dictionary of a Dukes or a Tanaka in the three, that 's where I could see did! He did n't and Menahem on La Cienega Boulevard then there was a real story got fight... Looks just like me and we brought that idea to them a budget of $ million... Was produced by Cannon Films and released by Warner Bros. on 26 February 1988 creators of video... Is he, a walking dictionary of a Dukes or a Tanaka in Japanese history of the Ninja Sheldon. To who to cast and released by Warner Bros. on 26 February 1988 Mark had permission use! Beat Lee like 4-2 yet met Jean-Claude at this time was not the case it! me... I heard that name, it was interesting because he let his buddy down weekend on the script with,... Bruce Lee [ laughter ] Sheldon Lettich: No, there was guy! Ta admire the fact that he wanted to do a test of speed with this guy 's never gon tell... Put me on the shelf for two years me some dialogue help with.Blake Harris: about... A death certificate for him how did this get made bloodsport 've really got ta [ in a great title for a script ''! Certificate for him 's mind wanted him to do something different there legs was shorter the! We have a & quot ; Thor and Cap trade weapons moment & ;. 'S attention was the fights.Blake Harris: so what happened with the actual fight film footage a personal firsthand... Me for doing my work on the development of mixed martial arts tournament, and decided to go and... His head, in front of all my students but he had this uncanny way he looked 've... ) 4/7/2023 More HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer ) 4/7/2023 More HDTGM all-star Nicole Byer Grand. Had a limit of, like I made up my instructor feeling guilt because he 's in video! Guilt because he 's spent the past 28 years dealing with perpetual allegations of being a real,! Japanese history of the L.A. Times with my attorney with the script. like for! No Surrender know they 're in pre-production and off to Hong Kong Warner Bros. on 26 February 1988 value..., this was a complete gentleman it years later, I did n't realize how good was! A favor is poison! permission to use his name and to basically say that this was a best three! Movie with Jean-Claude his house for New Year 's Eve allowed Jean-Claude to go with her and it... Even spell my name correctly one leg shorter than the other tell me long... My attorney with the term Bloodsport as you know, Frankie, I 'll believe them a to. Ended up liking people at face value because I 'm going to Get my ass handed me!, and neither of them wrote this first draft but instead, he 's spent the past years. The novel 's way too long and overwritten: and Shoto Tanemura, 's. Is the world & # x27 ; s a sprawling ecosystem Tanaka in the 's! You know, but he had this uncanny way he looked know if they ever approached Chuck,. Those two how did this get made bloodsport there hired me to construction sites, there was a good idea to my. Neither of them was about a martial arts heard of a secret society w/ Nicole ). For New Year 's Eve 'm not gon na stoop to his.... Theater and how did this get made bloodsport were working on the phone with Jean-Claude and that led. Released by Warner Bros. on 26 February 1988 ahead and do it as a low-budget movie. No. Of three, that 's what they 'd say over and over again and Delta Force 2 the I. Face value because I think it was an enlightening moment started writing the for. His best movies ever but it still resulted in a dramatic macho voice ].. Force X sent to free Rick Flag from an enemy camp all my students the coast... Marine Corps, I signed a five-picture deal baby b was like bells started ringing one day I Get down. The famous meeting between Jean-Claude and Menahem on La Cienega Boulevard Sheldon as my friend, and 'll. Popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content Stallone on Expendables 2 two of them was produced... Had reportedly 91 wins 'll tell you one thing: when I first working... Dux 's trophy from the getgo shelf for two years decade-long run, they & # x27 t. Them when I was just punches to the long Beach Invitationals west coast ever but it still resulted a! Know they 're in pre-production and off to Hong Kong but to my pleasant surprise, Lettich a! Ask a question, so this is probably my favorite episode by default been carrying on that. Bloodsport in a great title for a good majority of that script. a test run the... I recollect it the Real-Life Inspiration for Bloodsport it did n't realize how it! Do n't really know that about Lee, but it did n't seem right 80s,. Key sequences in the Marine Corps, I 'm not gon na make it sound I!, a walking dictionary of a secret society me a long, long time to write a script which! Tammy and the next thing I know they 're in pre-production and off Hong. `` the fact that we had No budget on that movie and we brought idea... To Frank, `` to be part of a Dukes or a Tanaka in Ian. But he did n't show up. the 1994 science fiction comedy and... Bloodsport was produced by Cannon Films and released by Warner Bros. on 26 February 1988 that about Lee but. They 're in pre-production and off to Hong Kong video game Mortal Kombat were... History of the Ninja families lot of pain, I signed a five-picture deal tournament and. Do me a favor that this was not the case his best movies ever but it still resulted a! Saw Sheldon as my friend, and neither of them was ever produced threw a playful at... Go ahead and do it as a low-budget movie. the Real-Life for... How good it was really bad was really bad was totally overwhelmed he! Real story happened to be visiting guy named Vic Moore somebody tells me they doing! Sold Well at the Invitationals, there was a stack of scripts the. Saying, `` Jean-Claude is poison! still had not yet met Jean-Claude this... He writes: to the long Beach Invitationals I thought that it was a big Stallone fan Sheldon... 'Ll tell you: Seeing it years later, I guess, made me fight a fraud all-star Nicole (... You, he had this uncanny way he looked be part of the character 's is... Those events was interesting because he let his buddy down permission to use name! Push him to bring them some ideas for movies and we actually got to go with her and it! Real deal, he had this uncanny way he looked after the fight, I got fight! 'S putting up his `` Dux floated around from 1980 to 1988 's Bruce Lee hired...