That was really my very first entry into the Writer's Guild.Blake Harris: Moving up the ranksSheldon Lettich: Yeah, and around this time I wrote a Vietnam screenplay that got me my first agent. So he pitched me the story for Kickboxer and I said, "Well, if you're looking for a martial arts film, I've got one of my own that I think you might likeBloodsport." It was horrible. On Bloodsport, we got into it during one of the fight scenes. So when he heard that there was another movie with Van Dammeand this time Van Damme was starring in itSammy was totally enthusiastic. Blake Harris: What was the scripting process like for Rambo III, working with Stallone?Sheldon Lettich: He and I were pretty much on the same wavelength for that. Then for Double Impact we thought: let's just go for it. So it should be a total of six blows, except this turned out to be a total of eight because of those two to Vic's head. Oh man, he f***ing hated that movie. Well later on it comes out in court and it's a picture that they took of me on that pamphlet. He remembered that there were different shots. I'd been writing screenplays and thinking about films, but what happened was an actor friend mine was reading Drama-Logue and saw an ad from this guy John Di Fusco looking for actors who were also Vietnam veterans. He's a producer, he's got like 50 films under his belt. This is the kind of bond we had. 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. She said, "Wait a minute, I'll be right back" and then comes in with the same magazine. I always try to look for the best in people. You've gotta [in a dramatic macho voice] PUSHHIMTOOFAR. And tears started to form in my eyes. 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. Or actually, a better question: how did Bloodsport first come together?Sheldon Lettich: [producer] Mark DiSalle invited me to lunch. It's not something that I'm interested in, but good luck." "Frank Dux: Yeah. Leon hired me to write a script, which Menahem ended up liking. I didn't understand. None of that is reported. 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. He wants to find a more peaceful path. 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. To my face he's pretending to be my best buddy, but behind my back he's doing everything in his power to undermine me in my career and take credit for my work.Blake Harris: I'm really sorry to hear that.Frank Dux: And that's a typical Hollywood story, right? We probably fought for a good 5-10 minutes before getting split up. It's a sprawling ecosystem. He actually challenged me to a fight. I need to tell you about something that happened first. We were calling it "Delayed Stress." And here's the thing that gets me about how stupid people are. For me, martial arts is just a release. The truth. I was at this taping and I even got to ask a question, so this is probably my favorite episode by default. The government did not know how much he knew about other covert operations, he said, so they placed information in his file to destroy his credibility. So you have to get everyone on the same page and agree to make this movie. All that was missing was an actor to play Frank Dux. But instead, he went back on his word and he did everything in his power to hold me down. One of the key sequences in the film finds Task Force X sent to free Rick Flag from an enemy camp. 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. That's not even my name. Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite. We Hate Movies podcast did Timecop for one of their eps, and likewise, it is one of their best eps. He was crushed. 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. Tiger Tanaka, right? And then all the Black Dragons got around methey were like the Hells Angels of the martial arts world at that timeand I didn't know what they were going to do. 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. The uniform they had for Jean-Claude was silk pajamas, these Chinese silk pajamas. So I wrote the script and gave it to a guy named Jacov Bresler. You allow other people just a little glimpse into what that experience was like and to feel it themselves. Pushed too farand generally all three words would appear on screenthat was big in the 80s. He had an answering machine at the time that had a limit of, like, 50 messages. But I learned to conquer it, okay? 4. 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. I mean, I didn't really see it myself, but I heard it from Grant later. In fact, Universal had some problems with what we did there because we did not want it to be a revenge movie. I wasn't there. That it would be helpful and therapeutic.Blake Harris: And was it? There's an authenticity to it.Blake Harris: Speaking of authenticity, I was wondering how much of the movie is accurate to your own life experiences?Frank Dux: Well the fighting scenes were very accurate. 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. How Did This Get Made's ad-free archives are available on Stitcher Premium. So he started taking me to construction sites where I could get work. But Menahem said, "No, I'm not gonna release it in theaters. 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. And I actually helped John do the casting. 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. 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. They were supposed to present the supposed evidence that said things didn't exist. Along with Alexander Martin.To this point, on http://frankdux.net/facts/ there is a signed declaration by Lt. Jean-Claude saw Menahem on the street, did a U-Turn and said, "Hey Menahem, remember me? 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. Sheldon Lettich: Yeah. Or was the movie developed in a totally different way?Frank Dux: Well I'll tell you what happened. Ed Boon and John Tobias, the creators of legendary video game Mortal Kombat, were inspired in part by Bloodsport. 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. How much of the character's personality is true to the individual who lived those events? How blindsided were you when the piece came out?Frank Dux: Well, there was nothing I could do. 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. But they called me from Hong KongFrank and Jean-Claudelamenting the fact that "Mark DiSalle was messing up the script." If you want to look it up, the SEAL manual number is K-431-0097.Blake Harris: Great. With Jean-Claude Van Damme, Donald Gibb, Leah Ayres, Norman Burton. At what point along the way were his fears diminished?Frank Dux: Well it was diminished when they were going to get rid of himJean-Claude doesn't realize how close he was to never having a careerand I took Mark off to the side and I said, "Look, I'm betting it all, Mark." Took me a long, long time to write that script. Do you recognize the guy all the way on the right? It was ridiculous what they had. Occasionally he'd come by the studio. After the fight, I go down to him and I said, "Hey, Mr. Moore, do you remember me?" KUMITE! And I had read an article, in this magazine called M, about the French Foreign Legion. 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 Frank and I go to a theater and we were both blown away by Jean-Claude. And they've never wavered from that.Blake Harris: The kick?Sheldon Lettich: Yeah. Is that true?Sheldon Lettich: We were working on a sequel, but I just don't think it's going to go anywhere, unfortunately. I thought Bloodsport was going to ruin my career when it was first cut and put together. 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. And so he told Menahem, "Sell it to me and I'll release it theatrically." They didn't have any proper uniforms. Like in South America it was called "Vale Tudo" and if the Japanese were running the event it was "Kumite San Soo," so this was a word that described them all.Blake Harris: That's interesting. And that's how I ended up co-writing Rambo III with him. "We have no recollection of such a tournament," said Kenneth Wilson, a spokesman for the Ministry of Sports in the Bahamas. I wrote the script, got paid a small fee and I can't remember how much time passedprobably less than a yearand via another guy named Lou Horwitza financer who, I believe, did gap-financing at the timeLou took it to Cannon. His point was that they just wanted to show it was a kid in trouble who could have gone down a different path, but martial arts puts him on the right path. I had my then-fianc back in the United States get all the uniforms for them. I don't know if they ever approached Chuck Norris, but Chuck didn't seem right. Was Sheldon the first person you shared it with?Frank Dux: Well, it was supposed to be a series. 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. I'll show you a fighter and I'll fight you on the roof of the hotel!" Jean-Claude's character comes to the US to help out his brother, not with anything like revenge or violence on his mind. He kept saying, "Jean-Claude is poison!" Sheldon Lettich: We got some amazing reviews and it just turned into a little bit of a mini-phenomenon. 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. As a result, he's spent the past 28 years dealing with perpetual allegations of being a fake and a fraud. And they wouldn't show it to me. 8. Dux aped the premise behind Enter the Dragon, then claimed it as true. And that's one of the things that were attractive about Rambo so that's what we did with that script.Blake Harris: And what was it like working with Rambo himself?Sheldon Lettich: I was just so honored. Menahem still thought it was a piece of s***.Blake Harris: How come?Sheldon Lettich: Well, I think this might answer your question. I don't really want to give this guy a platform for more publicity because that's what he's always looking for.". 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. 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. What was all this camaraderie about? If they'd actually served. And of course he says he did (but he didn't). I don't remember in detail what our first interaction was like, but we just kind of hit it off.Blake Harris: Was it weird for you at all, as a Vietnam veteran, to be working on a book about the war that was written by someone who hadn't been there?Sheldon Lettich: Well, I didn't know that at the time. And the CIA and everyone is obligated to tell you? A franchise was the idea. What follows is a conversation with Sheldon Lettich, who was thescreenwriter ofthe movie Bloodsport. "This guy's never gonna make it," Menahem said. And at this point in time I don't think it's going to happen.Blake Harris: Ah, too bad. He went in and redid it. I think that's why people really love it. Discovered by Player FM and our community copyright is owned by the publisher, not Player FM, and audio is streamed directly from their servers. And I think it's because he felt very insecure. Either way, it's fair to say that filmgoers are a pretty forgiving lot. 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. And that's why I kept it kind of fictional. ", 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. And on it, they didn't even spell my name correctly. We pitched it to them and they were kind of interested, but at the end of the day they decided not to do it. And I'd imitate him.Blake Harris: Do you remember how old you were around this time?Frank Dux: I was 11 years old. So he still didn't' have a lot of faith in Jean-Claude's acting abilities and decided not to make it. But when we found out Frank Dux was going to be there, we realized that this could go very, very bad, very quickly. And Jean-Claude's got a really good sense of how a fight scene should be edited. So I was curious why you think you were so skilled? I actually sent for and had custom uniforms made. You're craaaaaaazy." Jason and Paul chat about the latest Star Trek & Star Wars TV shows, Paul digs into Corrections and Omissions from The Specialist, shares a deleted scene from last week's episode about Steven Seagal's blues music career, and announces next week's movie. So I climbed up on the ledge with him. Because you didn't do it in Hong Kong." Plus, two cousins duke it out . And he was an idol of Jean-Claude's too.Blake Harris: Yeah? 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. You spent almost four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, is that correct?Sheldon Lettich: Yeah, I served as a radio operator in South Vietnam and then later with 1st Force Reconnaissance Company based at Camp Pendleton, California.Blake Harris: So how did you go about making that enormous transition from wartime soldier to Hollywood writer?Sheldon Lettich: Well, surprisingly enough, my first success came in the theater. I think what happened in reality was more interesting, but you have a limited amount of time to tell a story and it has to resonate with the audience, you know? Not what's typically expected, which was: Jean-Claude's going to find these motherf***ers and beat the s*** out of them. And I totally separated it. 2. level 1. Absolutely. I showed him pictures of this ancient fortress on a hilltop that the Russians had converted, so that became the basis for it. And Menahem was dead set against it.Blake Harris: Why?Sheldon Lettich: [Laughing at the memory] His word for Jean-Claude was "poison." Though defeated, this wasn't the last the heroes of the DC Universe saw of Bloodsport. Because for years he would turn down roles if his character had to be defeated at the end. The film is partly based on unverified claims made by martial artist Frank Dux. 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. Especially when you believe that person is your friend.Frank Dux: Exactly. I actually got to take my mother for the first time to see the film. He didn't like it. I blame the success of Jurassic Park for this movie. Thndrcougarfalcnbird. But yes, Idris Elba did an amazing job being the reluctant leader. And he agreed to that. And I was right: He came with [Bloodsport actor] Michel Qissi and two other guys. And everybody had their picture taken with me, and I don't recall anyone having their picture taken with Sheldon, outside of his friends. But I didn't sleep with a reporter beforehand and I certainly didn't break into my instructor's house and steal a sword. 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