Bloodsport
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Short description
Bloodsport centres on Frank Dux, an American army officer who leaves his post without permission and travels to Hong Kong to take part in the Kumite, an underground full-contact martial arts tournament held in secret. Trained since childhood in karate by a Japanese master, Dux enters the contest as an outsider among its established fighters, while military authorities pursue him for going absent. Inside the tournament he forms a friendship with a fellow American competitor and meets a journalist, and his progress draws him toward a confrontation with the reigning champion.
The film was directed by Newt Arnold, whose only earlier feature in the facts is Hands of a Stranger from 1962, making Bloodsport the second of the two films listed for him. It was written by Sheldon Lettich, Mel Friedman and Christopher Cosby and produced by Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus and Mark DiSalle for Warner Bros. Pictures and Cannon Group. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Dux, with Donald Gibb, Leah Ayres, Norman Burton, Forest Whitaker and Roy Chiao among the credited cast of 104.
Made for about 2 million US dollars, the film took roughly 64 million US dollars worldwide, a return far beyond its production cost. On IMDb it holds 6.8/10 from around 103,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1/10 from over 2,200 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 5.2/10 from 31 reviews, noticeably lower than the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The real Frank Dux was the fight coordinator for the film.
- Filming began on October 15, 1986.
- Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bolo Yeung would fight each other again 4 years later in the film «Double Impact» (1991).
- Many episodes from the film (one sumo wrestler's victory, the execution of the sumo wrestler, the judges' reaction to the fighter's death) were later copied in the film «Quest» (1996), directed and written by Jean-Claude Van Damme.
- The coin trick that Frank showed (he managed to swap a dime for another in a person's hand before they could close their fingers) is a famous trick of Bruce Lee.
- Jean-Claude Van Damme really knocked Bernard Mariano unconscious with an elbow strike. That take made it into the film.
- One of the few films shot, in particular, directly in the walled city of Kowloon before its demolition in 1993-1994.
- Frank Dux served as the director and fight choreographer for the project. When Jean-Claude Van Damme was cast as the lead, Dux stated that the actor was not in good enough physical shape and put him on a three-month training program. Van Damme later recounted that this was the most difficult training period of his life.
- It is claimed that the film's script is based on real events, but the veracity of this claim is questionable. Many martial arts enthusiasts believe Frank Dux's stories about participating in underground tournaments are fabrications, as are his claims of being an undercover CIA operative. Some point to the fact that no one has ever confirmed his statements or offered their own version of these events. The prevailing opinion is that Dux used these tales solely to pave his way into Hollywood, and that he likely never participated in any martial arts tournament. It is known that Dux served in the reserve of the U.S. Marine Corps and never had any overseas assignments. The CIA denies that he was ever an operative. The martial art named after him, “Dux Ryu Ninjutsu,” is also a fabrication.
- According to Jean-Claude Van Damme, before filming this movie he made ends meet with odd jobs and had no money. To get the role in this film, he was ready to do anything: he trained 10 hours a day, changed his appearance to look more “American,” and got a “Hollywood” smile from a dentist.
- The split-legged fist strike of Johnny Cage, a character from the “Mortal Kombat” video game series, is based on a scene from this film.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
