Steven Seagal Threatened To Stab Director Michael Keusch

Time for another round of the teachings of Sensei Steven Seagal.  Today’s lesson: dealing with pissant directors who think they know better than you.  In 2006, Seagal made a movie (Attack Force – great comedy, even though it wasn’t billed as one) with director Michael Keusch.  In their previous movie together, Shadow Man, Keusch’s patience was pushed to the breaking limit with Seagal refusing to finish fight sequences and refusing to even read the script.  Sensei Seagal argued that Keusch really didn’t know shit about fight scenes and as such, for having the gall to disagree, didn’t warrant him (Seagal) continuing to film.

The negative chi between the two developed and festered.

Nevertheless both men would work together again (contractually) in the aforementioned ‘Attack Force’.  But the disagreements would return almost immediately.  As Keusch put it: “Steven turned up before shooting with a copy of the film ‘Predator 2’ and says he wants Attack Force to be like Predator 2 [Editor: See why we love this beast?!]; I tell him we had a script which he said he hadn’t even read. The first thing he said to me after reading it was that he refused to fight Ileana Lazariuc who is the alien queen. I didn’t like this aspect either but it was there.”  Tensions between the two were temporarily eased when both men found a common ground – both accused the producers of syphoning a large part of the $12,000,000 budget.

The harmony was short lived however, when the two men again came to disagree.  Again on a fight scene, this time at a convenience store.  On the day of shooting, Master Seagal deemed it necessary that he stab his opponent in the neck. “Again we had an argument about the martial arts, I said that no one would in their right mind stand there waiting for a knife to be thrown at them. Seagal then said ‘You dont think it’s possible? Why don’t you stand there then and watch me throw it into your neck? Then you’ll know its possible’.”  Keusch, possibly knowing of a rumored attempt by Seagal to have a business rival murdered, then said he acquiesced to further demands throughout the rest of the shoot through actual fear.  In the end, he knew to not even look at Seagal in the eye.  “It started as a dream and became a nightmare, towards the end we wouldn’t even look at each other, I’d just say action and cut.”

Seagal knows best.  Class dismissed.