Interview:
Sheldon Lettich, director,
"Lionheart" and "Only the Strong"
If any filmmaker can claim responsibility from turning Jean-Claude Van Damme into the action hero known worldwide as the Muscles from Brussels, it’s Sheldon Lettich. After writing Van Damme’s breakthrough martial arts epic Bloodsport, Lettich made his directorial debut with 1990’s Lionheart, which starred Van Damme as an AWOL Foreign Legionnaire who gets involved in an underground fighting ring in L.A. following the death of his brother. Lettich would go on to direct Van Damme in 1991’s Double Impact, 2002’s The Order, and 2006’s The Hard Corps, as well write Van Damme’s 1998’s Legionnaire. In addition, Lettich wrote and directed 1993’s Only the Strong, which starred Mark Dacascos as a former Green Beret who teaches the Afro-Brazilian martial art of Capoeira to a group of troubled high school students in Miami. Lettich also directed Daniel Bernhardt in Perfect Target and Dolph Lundgren in The Last Warrior. Lettich also came up with the story for Thou Shalt Not Kill … Except, and wrote the screenplays for Rambo III and the upcoming Max, a family film starring Thomas Haden Church and Lauren Graham that will open Aug. 21. Tough Guy Cinema will screen Lionheart at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 followed by Only the Young at 10 p.m. Only the Young at the Alamo Ritz with writer/director Sheldon Lettich in attendance.
Aired: Feb. 5, 2015 Web sites: http://SheldonLettich.com/ and http://drafthouse.com/austin |
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