WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:11.359 Folks. It should people fake good money to see this movie when they go 2 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:16.239 out to a theater. They want cold sodascorn and no monsters. In a 3 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:40.240 projection booth, Everyone for ten podcasting isn't boring. Shut it off. Hey, 4 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:43.399 folks, welcome to a special episode of the Projection Booth. I'm your 5 00:00:43.399 --> 00:00:47.000 host Mike White. On this episode, I'm talking with director Sheldon Lettich, 6 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:51.880 actor Brian Thompson, and author Corey Dana, who wrote Sheldon Lettich From Vietnam 7 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.880 to Van Dam. We talk a bit about the book and a lot about 8 00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:00.399 mister Lettich's first film, Firefight, which is now available to watch on YouTube. 9 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.880 I started off by asking mister Lettich how he went from his career in 10 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:08.079 the military to filmmaking. Yeah, there was a long gap there between the 11 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:15.000 military and actually doing so motion picture work. I was a photographer for a 12 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:19.760 number of years and mostly doing archijecture, and I wanted to be a cinematographer 13 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:25.159 at first, and I went to the American Film Institute as a cinematography fellow. 14 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:30.959 I shot some some low student movies for the directing fellows, and then 15 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.680 I got well, I had the opportunity to make our own movie. While 16 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:38.400 we were there. It was on f Inch DHS. I made this little 17 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:42.920 science fiction epic based on an Arthur C. Park short story, and then 18 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:45.719 I kind of had a knack for it. I had a knack for directing 19 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:49.760 as well as cinematography, and for writing as well. That's where I first 20 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:56.439 tried my hand at writing, because we had screenwriting fellows cinematography, directing, 21 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:02.640 and producing. The screenwriting fellows a lot. They graduated from very prestigious universities. 22 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:07.840 They had like master's degree in Creative Writing MFA, all this kind of 23 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:14.000 stuff. So I was quite impressed with their resumes, and then I started 24 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:17.599 reading some of their screenplays that they're writing. There was just writing short screenplays 25 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:22.039 that we could actually shelve them there at the school. I was kind of 26 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:27.120 shocked by how poor some of this stuff was. Writing telling stories, it's 27 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:30.360 an innate talent that you're you're born with, and of course you can pick 28 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:35.319 up some stuff along the way reading books, watching movies, but when it 29 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:38.759 comes to writing or acting also it's another one. Either you got it or 30 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:43.240 you don't got it. I just felt, well, I'm gonna try writing 31 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:46.240 a little screen blay myself, because I think I could do at least as 32 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:50.280 good as these people are doing. So that's got me got me started on 33 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:57.560 my screenwriting bath and then as a cinematography fellow, I was shooting movies for 34 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.199 the directing fellows, and I found that I was getting them way too much 35 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:05.240 help because and a lot of them they also had you know, MFA and 36 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:07.560 master's degrees in all this, but they really didn't have a clue as to 37 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:10.639 where to put the camera. Some of them were really good with talking to 38 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:15.479 actors, but beyond that, they really didn't have it. It's not everybody. 39 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:21.080 So a few people who were in my class went on to have a 40 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:24.280 nice career in the business, but I just felt I had a knack for 41 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:30.680 directing also, And so then I co authored this play called Tracers about Vietnam, 42 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:36.000 and I wrote this one. One of the scenes that I wrote was 43 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:40.039 the story that became firefight. Most of the scenes were it was a dialogue 44 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:44.159 between you know, we had various characters. I think we had about about 45 00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:49.120 six characters in it. It was mostly dialogue stuff. And this was kind 46 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:54.360 of a big epic scene that could not have been staged properly in a small 47 00:03:54.439 --> 00:03:59.520 theater. So the director decided we're just we're going to dump this what we 48 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:01.879 can't use this, it's just too big. But I was in love with 49 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:06.560 the story and I wanted to do something with I felt it deserved the cinematic 50 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:10.599 treatment, and I just couldn't get that story out of my mind. So 51 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:15.719 then a few years later I had decided, we'll shoot, I'm gonna fill 52 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:18.600 this thing. I'm gonna make this little movie. And that I raised the 53 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:24.199 money but pulled a cast and crew together, and I have to admit Frank 54 00:04:24.279 --> 00:04:27.040 Duke's helped me a lot. I asked Frank if he wanted to be involved, 55 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.639 I'm making this little movie, and he did. And he did see 56 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:34.000 himself as a potential movie star at the time. He won't admit it now, 57 00:04:34.120 --> 00:04:39.480 but he really was. He saw himself as like the next Tom Seller, 58 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:43.680 okay, which was realistic at the time. I thought he could be 59 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.279 an actor, he could be some kind of a TV star or something. 60 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:48.160 So I said, okay, Frank, why don't you how if I give 61 00:04:48.199 --> 00:04:51.079 you the lead role in this little movie and you helped me put it together? 62 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:54.920 And he did. He actually put a little bit of money into the 63 00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:00.720 budget and he got a number of his spreads to be in the movie, 64 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:03.439 like the Ree brothers. I didn't know those guys. Frank knew them. 65 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:08.079 So Frank asked them if they wouldn't mind planning if you get cong in the 66 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.519 movie. And there are a few others. There were like some other stunt 67 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:14.959 people, as Frank knew, and he pulled them in and so they'd ended 68 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.360 up doing a lot of the stunt work in the movie. And the actual 69 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:24.920 casting we did by putting an ad. And there was a periodical called Drama 70 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.879 Blogue that came out I think once a week, and it would have ads 71 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:30.800 for you know, hey, we're looking for actors for this and for that, 72 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:34.839 and our articles about actors, and we put an ad in there, 73 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:40.439 and that's how we got Bryan. Bryan was reading Drama every week and he 74 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.199 saw the ad and answered it, and so he ended up having his first 75 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:48.279 on screen role, which I guess led to a lot of other things. 76 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:53.480 So basically that's why people were working on the movie. We weren't paying anybody 77 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:58.839 any salary, but we promised some a half inch VHS tape which everybody got, 78 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.959 so then they were use that put that on their acting reels, and 79 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:08.560 of course I was able to use the film as a directing sample. That 80 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:13.560 actually ended up working up pretty good for me because I'm at Van Dam and 81 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:17.600 we hit it off and I met him through less important of course, and 82 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:25.120 then he got this Lionheart project set up, which was originally called The Wrong 83 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:30.199 Bet, that was his original title, and so I was hired to write 84 00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:34.079 the screenplay. Eric Carson was supposed to direct the movie at first, but 85 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:40.680 John Claude wanted me to direct the movie just because he'd worked with Eric, 86 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:45.600 and Eric was based on Eric's a decent director, but he didn't really have 87 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:49.079 passion for Jean Claude. He didn't really believe in John Claude the way that 88 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:54.079 I did, and I really believed in him at the time. So John 89 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:57.879 Claude wanted me to direct the movie and he saw a firefight, so he 90 00:06:57.959 --> 00:07:00.959 thought that was enough to demonstrate to him that I could I could direct a 91 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.879 movie, and he showed it to Sainil Shaw. We showed this little movie 92 00:07:05.879 --> 00:07:10.480 to a number of people, added on thirty five millimeter, so it's very 93 00:07:10.519 --> 00:07:14.319 easy for them that went up in their screening rooms, their private screening rooms 94 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:19.800 to watch it on a big screen. And apparently we sold Sneil on it, 95 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:25.160 and that's how I ended up. We not sold him then he I 96 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:28.639 would not have directed the movie, or I would have been fired after a 97 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:31.120 few days, I if I was screwing up, But he had Eric as 98 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:34.800 a producer, so Eric was basically waiting in the wings just in case I 99 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:39.759 screwed up really bad, and then he could bring Eric and to finish up 100 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:44.000 the movie. So it ended up being a good thing for me and Brian. 101 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:47.720 I'm sure you put it on your your reel, right or did you? 102 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:51.720 You know? Editing back then was very difficult, so Sheldon Firefight, 103 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:57.079 the clips that I had did not make it on the reel. I'm sorry, 104 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:00.560 I'm sorry. Oh yeah, because back mad we did have all these 105 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:05.720 digital tools, it was pretty difficult to do that kind of stuff. I 106 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:07.560 had a line here and a line there. It wasn't like I had like 107 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:13.040 a even a fifteen second continuity. Yeah, it's not like you had a 108 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:16.399 long passage of dialogue or something. So, yeah, where were you at 109 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:20.800 in your career, mister Thompson when Firefight came along for you? I had 110 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:28.800 just finished my second year of graduate school and the Master of Fine Arts acting 111 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:35.039 program at the Interest to California, Irvine in my search for material and then 112 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:41.759 my own interest. I had coincidentally been reading just about every non fiction book 113 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:48.480 written about Vietnam at the time, and I also was embarking upon auditions in 114 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:54.919 Hollywood as often as I could, just to get over this dragon of here 115 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:58.240 that I had. When I would audition, you know, you want it 116 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:01.240 so badly, this dragon of nerds would show up, and you know, 117 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:07.519 many times the you know, the best performance got left at home when during 118 00:09:07.559 --> 00:09:15.240 rehearsal and I had been submitting to Drama Logue my picture resume in the hopes 119 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:20.039 to get an interview, and this was the very first picture and resume that 120 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:24.879 I had sent out that actually led to an interview for the film in Hollywood, 121 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:30.200 the very first one I was. It was Sheldon. Do you remember 122 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:33.759 what month of the year it was that you submitted to Drama Logue? I 123 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:39.039 doubt, but I know that we filmed in August nineteen eighty three. Yeah, 124 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.440 we felt at the end of August, so did we. Was it 125 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:45.759 in Drama Logue in July? Was it earlier later than that would have been 126 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:48.600 earlier? I think, yes, earlier than July. Yeah, yeah, 127 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:54.519 because I actually sent it a notice to Backstage Rest to see if they have 128 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:56.480 the archived Drama lologue. So if we get that, NERB, that would 129 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:01.159 be an interesting thing to have the little water ad that I responded to, 130 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:05.240 you know what, I think I have it in my files. Yes, 131 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:07.840 I think I have the original ad from drama argue. Well, I just 132 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:13.360 went digging through my folders and I found Sheldon. I found a folder that 133 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:18.519 was labeled Firefight. I did not find the picture of me with my birthday 134 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:22.320 cupcake because I turned twenty three years old on the side of Firefight. But 135 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:26.000 look, it did slick familiar. Yes, it does absolutely. Yeah. 136 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:31.399 Yeah, that's that's a contract. It's got your signature on it, so 137 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:35.120 maybe that's worth something. I've got Frank Dukes's contract with his signature, so 138 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:39.799 that's probably gonna be worth more. I would think you're right about that. 139 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:43.799 The editorious Frank Dukes. You know, you got to think about how you 140 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:48.120 know, naive we are at the time, and how we take people on 141 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.279 their word. And so you know, I met these two guys in Hollywood 142 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:58.720 who who both said they were Vietnam veterans making this short about Vietnam, which 143 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:05.679 I was fascinated with how narrowly by just a few years I missed out on 144 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:11.759 being drafted. How I could have been these guys you know from Dispatches. 145 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:15.720 I written them three or four other books, the titles of which I don't 146 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:20.080 remember right now. And so I was very committed and passionate about representing the 147 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:24.200 harrowing experience that these guys had been through. Well, I wish we could 148 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.879 have made something, something even bigger. The other day, somebody, when 149 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:33.840 I was doing this other interview, somebody was saying, hey, how about 150 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:41.200 you making in a Vietnam movie with Scott Atkins and Ryan Thompson And I forgot 151 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:43.559 what other names they said, but I said, yeah, I'm hey, 152 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:48.200 I'm all for that, okay, I'd love to make a big Vietnam movie 153 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:52.759 with Ryan Thompson. So Corey, as the biographer of Sheldon Lettige, curious, 154 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:58.840 what was your first experience with his filmography. I remember seeing blood Sport 155 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:01.200 the first time theater i've seen it, you know, the opening weekend, 156 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:05.639 you know, I remember seeing his name. Later on I would see his 157 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:09.120 name on you know, other things like Rambo three or you know, Lion 158 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:13.120 Heart and the name it it always always stuck with me, and I ended 159 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:16.279 up having all those posters hanging on my wall as a kid. So, 160 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:20.559 you know, his name was all around me growing up. You know, 161 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:24.000 so's somebody's whose career I followed, you know, most of my life. 162 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:28.039 And I've always gone back to those films too, you know, being a 163 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.759 film geek, and I've always you know, leaned more towards the action and 164 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:35.799 horror type films and stuff, especially, you know, action films, and 165 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:39.759 some of those films that he did back then were you know we're in still 166 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:43.200 are like seminal pieces. I mean, look at how many times blood Sport's 167 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:48.559 been you know, copied or imitated, and how often people still talk about 168 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:52.120 blood Sport, blood Sport, blood Fish, blood Match. There was so 169 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:56.399 many, so many ripoffs of it. I wouldn't call them ripoffs, maybe 170 00:12:56.440 --> 00:13:01.440 more like they were homage. Okay. There to Mortal Kombat, you know, 171 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:07.200 morter Combat. Absolutely. In fact, I've read I've read some scholarly 172 00:13:07.399 --> 00:13:11.960 articles about this within the last few years. People are talking about how blood 173 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:16.519 Sport led to mixed martial arts, Mortal Kombat led to a lot of stuff. 174 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:24.120 So the big impact on our culture all over the world. So us 175 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.799 I was very curious as far as how you shot firefight. Was that thirty 176 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:33.799 five or sixteen? We shot sixteen millimeter. This would have been so much 177 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:39.240 easier nowadays, but back then it was no digital. Nobody had nobody had 178 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:46.519 smartphones, okay, and basically I had the rent equipment. They had to 179 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:52.120 go to these equipment houses and rent sixteen millimeter cameras, and then you got 180 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:54.480 to buy the Shulton stock. You got to get the Shulton stock developed, 181 00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:58.639 then you got to get it printed, and then you edit. You have 182 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.159 to have to have if you can't just do it on There were no such 183 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:05.960 thing as those computers back then. He didn't have a computers. Basically, 184 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:09.159 you had to get movie oilers and cams and all this stuff. So it 185 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:13.840 was a long, long process, and that's why it took so long for 186 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:18.279 me to have a completed shell. We was shot in eighty three and an 187 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:20.960 eight and eighty six. It was finally completed and I was able to show 188 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.240 it to people. Yes, I was sixteen millimeter and then I blew it 189 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.960 up to thirty five. It would have been impossible to shoot this thing at 190 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.600 thirty five because the cameras were huge and as it was we had to schlep 191 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.039 all the stuff up on top of the hill and Camp Pendleton. And when 192 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:41.559 he says, Charlette, I'm going with an elevation from the road to where 193 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:46.480 this convenient location that the director chose, I would say elevation change of a 194 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:52.919 couple hundred feet and probably a minimum a quarter mile. And it wasn't really 195 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:56.639 it wasn't really a trail. It was just this incline up this brush here 196 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:00.759 worth the trail. Yeah, we made our own trail. Somebody had a 197 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:05.240 truck and drove the pickup truck up there, and then once there they handed 198 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:09.639 you a shovel and you started digging. I had no art department, I 199 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:15.080 had no assistant directors, I had no costume people. So basically I just 200 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:20.559 had a big box and boxes of boots, sending up uniforms and all this 201 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:24.240 stuff. And I told all the actors, okay, pick out some pickouts, 202 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.639 some uniforms that fit you, all right, and then okay, now 203 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:31.879 we got to dig some foxholes and we used entrenching tools. So you guys 204 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:33.360 were kind of getting into it. You're kind of cheeling, like this is 205 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.639 what it feels like to be off grunt in Vietnam. You know, I 206 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:41.559 got I got my entrenching tool here and this little shovel and digging a hole 207 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:45.200 to make a foxhole for myself. So yeah, we had to do We 208 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:48.159 did all that stuff, and nobody really complained. I think they were kind 209 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:54.480 of having fun playing playing soldier and you know, firing fake m sixteens and 210 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:00.720 having battles. It was an interesting experience for everybody. One thing I learned 211 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:07.799 also, don't mix actors and stuntmen unless you rehearsed everything. Let the stuntmen 212 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:12.399 do the stunt stuff. Let the actors do their dialogue. He him separated 213 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:18.639 because there was this one little fight scene we had where Brian and Philip Free 214 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:22.679 or tangling in a foxhole and Brian had a held it on and we had 215 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:29.200 had the film we saw it on Chilm and Brian jerked his head back and 216 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:33.960 hit Philip right in the mouth the brim of the helmet, the sharp brim 217 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:38.879 in the back, right his tooth cause too, and basically snapped his tooth 218 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:42.399 in two. It was it was kind of kind of random, and you 219 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:47.879 could see him be check up for like both. And Philip Free is a 220 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:51.480 pretty tough guy, but he was in pain, and actually we were at 221 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:56.480 Camp Paddleton and we drove him down to them. They had doctors and dentists 222 00:16:56.759 --> 00:17:00.960 there on duty, so we were able to get This was worked on. 223 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:04.279 But that wasn't your fault. Ryan. Basically, I could have rehearsed that 224 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:08.720 bite with you guys, but I didn't do it because I was I was 225 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:14.160 an amateur myself, and I haven't made mistakes like that since not you. 226 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:18.000 Actually, no, I haven't really made mistakes like that, and you've worked 227 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:23.599 on Ryan's worked on. I think for movies wish me not including Firefight. 228 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:30.480 I think it's for including firefight, Winhart, perfect Target and the Order. 229 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:34.720 I guess that's it. That's for including Firefight. And Sheldon still regrets not 230 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:38.319 getting me the lead and risk kies he would have been really good at that. 231 00:17:38.839 --> 00:17:41.759 And Jean Claude when he saw the movie. I got him into a 232 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:47.319 screening before the movie opened and he saw it and he said, you know 233 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:49.559 what, I would have been much better in that lead role than the guy 234 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:53.240 you had, and I agreed with him. He didn't send that home. 235 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:57.480 You just did not get any Russian out of that guy. No, No, 236 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:03.559 but imagine imagine if that guy was Dolph Lundgren. You know the Bruski. 237 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:10.279 You know that there's this there's this formidable terror and foreign quality to this 238 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:15.279 thing that the kids encounter, but it was kind of like they were meeting 239 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:18.400 their neighbor. That kind of gave off of that neighbor lead vibe. That 240 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:23.799 was Joaquin Phoenix's first leading role. He went by the name Leith Phoenix at 241 00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:26.839 the time, but he was pretty much the lead kid. We had like 242 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:32.880 three kids who capture this Russian sailor, and Joaquin Phoenix was like the main 243 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:36.039 guy with the most He had the most dialogue in the film with anybody. 244 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:38.279 Yeah, you could have been the Russian Ryan, or you could have been 245 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:45.359 the bad guy too. We had I think Patrick Kilpatrick played this spillinous character. 246 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:48.680 We'll fight a way to insert you digitbal Me one of these days. 247 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:53.880 Ruski is too. We'll get eage Joaquin Phoenix so we can have him reprise 248 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:57.640 his role as a teenager once again. Or you talked about how you grew 249 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:02.200 up with all of these posts stairs and all the movies that you're seeing that 250 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:07.279 Sheldon directed and wrote, and I'm so curious what made you decide I want 251 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:10.759 to write a book about this guy and what was that process like for you. 252 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:15.599 That was actually Sheldon's idea. He'd come to me and I had written 253 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:19.039 I get an interview with him, and we did like a retrospective on Lionheart 254 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:26.440 and he actually really really liked how it turned out, and really terrific article 255 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:32.720 about Lion Heart, which he interviewed me for. But right around that time, 256 00:19:32.759 --> 00:19:37.680 I was thinking about doing this biography. So I thought, this guy 257 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.559 did a great job with a lion art, so let me ask him if 258 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:42.880 he wants him to a whole book about me. And basically that's how it 259 00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:45.640 came about. He and I, you know, had a pretty good rapport 260 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:48.920 going back and forth and things, you know, kind of kind of worked 261 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:53.160 itself out to me. I don't think we came across anything too difficult. 262 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.039 Everything just kind of, you know, kind of fell into place. It 263 00:19:56.119 --> 00:20:00.400 was all pretty smoothly because I wasn't just relying on my memory. I have 264 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.880 I have files here, I say, I say shit, I say paperwork. 265 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:08.000 I have all my contracts from every one of these movies. So I 266 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:11.559 was able to look up dates and places and things like that. But also 267 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:17.799 I was able to using IMDb. That was a real handy tool because I 268 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:22.559 could not remember everybody's the names of all the actors and producers and all of 269 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:26.240 that. So I was able to use that, and uh, I hadn't. 270 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.640 The book is just be damn accurate. Actually, in fact, the 271 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:36.480 only one who questions its accuracy is Strength Dukes, So that's that's not surprising 272 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:40.960 or unusual. Sheldon mentioned some of the films that you were working out for 273 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:44.480 other people and some of the things that you had also directed. Were all 274 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:47.640 these available for you, Corey to to see and to kind of put together 275 00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:52.680 Sheldon's career was like Sheldon had gotten me a copy of Firefight to see before 276 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:56.160 you know, I got started on everything. So that was actually, you 277 00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:59.720 know, really helpful, and I was kind of blown away. I gave 278 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.599 Alora the crappy VHS version that I'd had it out to people. I made 279 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.160 him swear that he was never in the show it, and so I made 280 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.640 a better copy because the VHS I think it looks really bad. It's the 281 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:15.759 same movie, but it just it just feels cheap seeing in them VHS. 282 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:18.599 And with this the two K transfer that I've made that I think it looks 283 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:22.559 it looks pretty damn good. It looks like a real movie. It looks 284 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:25.839 epic. It really does. I'll just watch it again last night, and 285 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:29.039 you know, it did. It really felt like it felt like a big 286 00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:32.599 you know, war set, a warm movie, didn't. It's pretty impressive, 287 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:34.279 and I'm happy to see that it's finally out because I mean historic, 288 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:37.480 you know, the historical significance of that, you know, and everyone that 289 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:41.039 it's in it. I mean, it's it's got to be like a dream 290 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:45.319 for some people to see things, y'all. Bryan Thompson's first acting role, 291 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:48.279 or you know, Philip and Simon read the first time, you know they 292 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:52.319 actually had, you know, a significant role, because that's right, Philip 293 00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:56.640 and Simon had not been in anything prior to that. And actually Frank Dookes 294 00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.200 is the guy who introduced me then I think I mentioned that already, so 295 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.559 he was actually quite helpful. He was a pretty good partner on that. 296 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:07.720 He comes off pretty well in the movie too. It's nothing embarrassing, but 297 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:11.559 I think one thing that you can see people have asked me, well, 298 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.559 why didn't you use Frank Dukes and some of your other Moupi's outcome. He 299 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:18.279 didn't have like small roles or supporting roles and some of your other shelves, 300 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:23.920 and basically he's not an actor. He does okay in Firefight, but there 301 00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:26.799 really wasn't all that much to do. But you know, he doesn't that. 302 00:22:27.079 --> 00:22:30.319 He does actually have more dialogue than anybody else in the town, but 303 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:33.759 he comes off okay, but he's just not He was just not a movie 304 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:41.119 star. Now with Brian, for example, and I'm not saying this to 305 00:22:41.160 --> 00:22:42.720 pump up your ego, but you could just see like, okay, you're 306 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:45.559 good. This guy's a real actor, all right. He had a presence. 307 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.039 You know, eventually other people realize that, you know, James Cameron 308 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:55.000 and Stallone and and all of that. So so Brian, that's why Brian 309 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:59.480 has had a successful career as an actor, which is a tough career to 310 00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:04.759 have actually, So I've known so many people who've tried and failed. Brian's 311 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:10.680 pretty much maintained almost like forty years now since we did Firefight, and you're 312 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:15.240 still getting acting roles. Okay, knock on wood. But it's not just 313 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:18.119 luck. It's it's just you've got the goods, You've got the ability, 314 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:22.759 you're a good actor, but you've also got an interesting quality about you have 315 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:26.279 a presence. I think that's why you've endured all these years. Well, 316 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:33.759 Sheldon, I just put together a forty characters in forty minutes that I put 317 00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:40.200 on YouTube. Very few of those characters are the same. You're talking about 318 00:23:40.279 --> 00:23:45.160 forty characters that you played in forty different movies in forty minutes. Yeah. 319 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:49.440 Yeah. You think about what sustained a career. You know, I sustained 320 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:53.720 a career by being able to play a wide variety of parts to a certain 321 00:23:53.720 --> 00:24:00.359 degree that that's a detriment because these people know, Brian is this you know 322 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:03.680 za Budu, Sheriff of Key West, Florida. That was the biggest job 323 00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:07.400 I've ever had, playing Sheriff Cody and Qust. So over at Viacom I 324 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.839 was a comedic actor, but then over over here, you know, I 325 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:17.880 played these villainous parts, and at Paramount I played a lot of you know, 326 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:22.759 aliens, and so being known as like when you hire you know Sam 327 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:30.640 Elliott, you got Sam Elliott. You know he's a fantastic actor and he's 328 00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:34.000 known for you to get him for that part. So one casting director said, 329 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:37.960 Brian, you know you're a chameleon. But I don't I don't. 330 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:41.920 I don't really have a way an ingredient to describe you. I think with 331 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:47.599 the group that we have here, we pretty much remember you for your villainous 332 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:52.240 roles in the Cobra especially, but you've played You've played a lot of scary 333 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:56.920 characters, a lot of villains. So I think when people mentioned Brian Thompson, 334 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:03.000 that's generally what what comes to line is what was the character in Cobra? 335 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:07.279 Was the night stalker or something? Yeah, when I was in college, 336 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.599 people, you know, they told me that I was going to make 337 00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:14.640 my money in comedy. You think about it, you know, when you're 338 00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:21.880 doing plays in college, there isn't these strictly villainous parts that are sort of 339 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:23.680 in film. Maybe you're gonna help me describe that a bit bit, you 340 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:27.920 know, a film like well, I can't think of a playoff hand that 341 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:34.839 has like Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat or the Knights Slasher from Cobra. Are 342 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:40.759 there plays that have this of the villainous part. Films are more simplistic. 343 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:44.440 You've got your good guy with the white hat, You've got your bad guy 344 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:47.000 with the black hat. You were usually the guy with the black hat, 345 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:49.640 and that is the movies that succeeded. There's not a lot of nuance, 346 00:25:51.160 --> 00:25:56.440 especially in action movies, especially in saloon movies and the Van Damme movies and 347 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:00.519 Chois Dagger movies. There's not much in the way of nuance there. It's 348 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:03.680 either you're either you're one of the one of the good guys, or are 349 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.680 you one of the villains, you're one of the bad guys. Are you're 350 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:11.119 one of the henchmen with the bad guys? The guy that has to meet 351 00:26:11.319 --> 00:26:17.480 his end, that has to be torn apart and the audience feels satisfaction in 352 00:26:17.559 --> 00:26:21.160 seeing him destroyed. The guy that has to be impaled on a meat hook 353 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:26.240 by Sylvester Stallone. Actually, so you know, pretty amazing. Ryan has 354 00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:30.640 been killed by some of the biggest action stars in the business. So he's 355 00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:37.119 been killed by Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Van Damn and am I missing anybody there? 356 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:41.680 Chuck Marvis, Oh, okay, wow. Steve Martin shot me in 357 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:47.680 Three Amigos. James Kahn got you pretty good in Alien Nation. James Kahn 358 00:26:47.960 --> 00:26:51.960 kicked me in the balls in the Alien Nation. But you didn't know that 359 00:26:52.119 --> 00:26:55.799 aliens didn't have balls. He kicked me in the balls and I said, 360 00:26:55.880 --> 00:27:02.079 doesn't they teach anything about us in cup school? Slow go. I'm so 361 00:27:02.119 --> 00:27:04.319 happy you still remember the line from all these years later. Well, how 362 00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:08.599 many scenes if I got to do James Kahn? Oh? Two? You 363 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:11.839 even came back for the TV show. It's a different character though. I 364 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:18.839 think that's a researcher share. This guy's a flan Ryan. Okay, going 365 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:22.960 back to Firefight. How long was the shoot? It was two weekends, 366 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:26.720 two weekends at Camp Pendleton, so four days total. Very rugged and also 367 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:32.640 at the same time very exciting. Uh. On my birthday, Sheldon let 368 00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:34.839 me go. He gave me a ride in the Huey helicopter. Remember that, 369 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:38.000 Sheldon let me go up in the helicopter. Did you go in the 370 00:27:38.119 --> 00:27:41.440 Huey or did you go on the actual helicopter we were using it? We 371 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:45.319 went up in the Huey. Okause the helicopter we were using it was not 372 00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:51.319 of Huey. That was a PG forty six d Knight. Well there was 373 00:27:51.319 --> 00:27:56.400 the big double bladed Yeah that was now that's Oh, what's the what's the 374 00:27:56.519 --> 00:28:00.799 difference, Well, you always got one blade, but it's doing yeah hue 375 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:03.599 Oh. I always thought that here he was the big double bladed one. 376 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.039 No, no, that's that's what the army was used in Vietnam. They 377 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:12.640 were using Huey's and they have a single blade and the much smaller helicopter, 378 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:18.240 the c Age forty six. It's a big, big helic could carry an 379 00:28:18.359 --> 00:28:25.440 entire squad of marines, whereas with the Huey you could depending on which Hue 380 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.920 it was, you could maybe fit like seven or eight guys, I mean 381 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:32.319 Hue in addition to the pilot in code. Okay, So I got to 382 00:28:32.359 --> 00:28:37.200 go in a c Age forty six P forty six absolutely, And it doesn't 383 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:40.559 have like a It doesn't have a nice name like a Hue. I don't 384 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:44.319 like the name. It's the name is A C. Knight doesn't really describe 385 00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:47.359 well, does didn't know? I don't like sayah no here he has much 386 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:49.960 more character. Yeah. I was amazed when that showed up in the movie 387 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.160 because I was just like, is this from another film? Does he like 388 00:28:53.240 --> 00:28:56.000 lift this footage? And then when I realized that you shot out just like 389 00:28:56.119 --> 00:29:00.200 my god, the production values for this are amazing. I'm a former marine 390 00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:03.920 myself, so basically I went to the marine board base so I got I 391 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:08.759 got some good cooperation from these guys, and they gave me that helicopter to 392 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:12.400 use. I felt I only needed for about an hour or two. If 393 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:15.880 you had to pay for that as a Hollywood production, it would have been 394 00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:18.079 more money than you to spend making the entire movie. Oh for sure. 395 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:22.559 No, it would have been more money per hour than the entire movie. 396 00:29:22.759 --> 00:29:26.720 It's basically movie productions are on the hook for the fuel costs, and those 397 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:30.839 things use a lot of fuel. I was supposed to be on the hook 398 00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:36.119 for the fuel costs and keep it quiet, but I never paid that it 399 00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:40.640 will cost. Okay, it was a few thousand dollars. Did they send 400 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.720 you a bill? I think they did. Yeah. I think that they 401 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:48.519 just said us, a he's a vet, let's let's take care of him. 402 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:52.920 That's pretty much the way they felt. So they took care of me. 403 00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:56.400 Yeah. I want to ask you a question here, because there's been 404 00:29:56.440 --> 00:30:02.680 some controversy over this. Did Frank Dukes ever tell you that he was awarded 405 00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:06.039 the Medal of Honor? Of course, he showed it to me, right 406 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:07.640 right, Okay, he showed He took it to his house and he broke 407 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:14.400 out these this you know boxes that here, these cases that were buying the 408 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:15.599 line. I don't know if they were. I think they were dark blue 409 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:19.480 and dark red. You know, he showed me medal after metal. Yeah, 410 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:26.160 absolutely, none of which he actually earned because he was never in Vietnam. 411 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:30.839 He was never in combat. But he used to tell these stories everybody. 412 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:34.240 We had a producer on Firefight named Peter the Bear. We had these 413 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:38.000 marine advisors that were there keeping an eye at us the whole time, and 414 00:30:38.039 --> 00:30:41.319 he said, oh yeah, and other producer Frank, he's the Medal of 415 00:30:41.319 --> 00:30:45.599 Honor recipient. And marines looked at one another and next day you really, 416 00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:52.680 so this was b Internet? Okay, this is Google. He couldn't look 417 00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:56.920 this ship up easily. And so we kind of took Frank's We kind of 418 00:30:56.920 --> 00:31:00.359 took his word for when he actually showed me the medal. That made me 419 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:04.119 think, well, maybe he did win a Medal of Honor because he actually 420 00:31:04.119 --> 00:31:07.000 had at his house. He showed it to me, and he showed it 421 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:10.960 to you too. So these marines they come back the next day and they 422 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:12.839 say, well, you know what, We've got a book this saw the 423 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:17.839 Medal of Honor recipients, and Frank's name it not in it. How do 424 00:31:17.880 --> 00:31:21.359 you explain that, Well, Frank, how do you explain that? And 425 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.039 he basically he's gonna doing like a little tap dance, and you know, 426 00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:29.720 you know, thinking of a way out of this, and he came up 427 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:33.200 with a novel solution. He said, well, the mission I was on 428 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:38.240 was so secret that they couldn't reveal any details about it, so it was 429 00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:45.359 a secret medal of honor that was secretly awarded Chippy all right, And people 430 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:48.440 who really know about this stuff said, that's absolutely impossible. There's no such 431 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:52.920 thing as a secret medal of honor. It's going to be in the record 432 00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:59.200 book somewhere, and it wasn't. But he's telling people lasting it all over 433 00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:01.680 the internet that I'm the one who's lying that he never showed me the medal. 434 00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:07.079 So I just wanted to set the story straight here, Brian, I'm 435 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:09.319 not the only one he showed it. Show it to you too. And 436 00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:13.839 you remember he used to tell people he was a war hero that he had 437 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:17.240 always medals. And I remember the meeting really distinctly in his house. It 438 00:32:17.319 --> 00:32:23.799 was night, it was nighttime, and I remember just the uncomfortableness of him 439 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:30.759 having to promote his own story because people that have done these things often don't 440 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:35.480 want to talk about it. People that have had this giant success or had 441 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:39.880 been in these harrowing experiences. Those are things that you know that they acknowledge 442 00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:44.640 in a shrug of the shoulders and want to move the subject on to something 443 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:50.839 else. Another phrase that Drake did that caused me to kind of wins. 444 00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:54.759 But he also brought out a bunch of weapons and knives and things, and 445 00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:59.319 he kept saying, and you see how professional I am at this, You 446 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:06.519 see how fessional this is. He used that word professional in every other paragraph 447 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:09.880 to tell you that he's a professional, rather than just let the action speak 448 00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:15.000 for themselves. In his book, he wrote this book called The Secret Man 449 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:22.440 about himself, and he's got a photo in there which it's him in a 450 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:29.640 camouflage outfit and he's holding up a three fifty seven magnum and he labels the 451 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:35.400 photo as down in the trenches in nineteen eighty three, basically making it seem 452 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:37.720 like he was on a real mission. But it's a photo that he took 453 00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:43.039 while we were shooting firefight. He's got the same uniform on that he Warren 454 00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:46.480 firefight, and he's holding up a three fifty seven magnum and he's saying, 455 00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:51.359 yeah, yeah, there's the three fifty seven magnum and this is what distinguished 456 00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:55.880 Special Forces personnel. And basically, there's no way that Spinisial Forces is going 457 00:33:55.960 --> 00:34:00.000 to use the three fifty seven magnum. First of all, it's heavy, 458 00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:05.599 it's noisy, and you basically, if you're special Forces, if you're doing 459 00:34:05.640 --> 00:34:08.280 stuff poindestinely, you want to keep the noise down. All right, A 460 00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:13.159 three fifty seven would have would have woke up o che men and hannoi. 461 00:34:13.480 --> 00:34:16.679 Okay, because it's so damned loud, so hope it's just weird. But 462 00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:20.719 that he put it in his book and he said, here, I am 463 00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:24.599 down on the trenches and I had to expose that a few times. And 464 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:29.519 then he says, I've exposed it enough time. Then he said, well, 465 00:34:29.559 --> 00:34:32.400 that was me. I didn't say that I wanted to label it that 466 00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:36.280 way. It was the editors of the book. The editors are trying to 467 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:39.800 pump me up. So let's get off the subject of him, because we 468 00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:44.840 end up talking about this guy too much. But I just wanted to get 469 00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:49.400 now that we got you here on camera, all right, Okay, here's 470 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:53.000 Brian Thompson Brian doesn't have a reputation of being a bullshitter, and neither do 471 00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:58.480 I, and Brian is flat out telling you, yes, Frank showed me 472 00:34:58.519 --> 00:35:01.239 a medal of honor and said that he a recipient. So there we go. 473 00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:07.119 That's that's done with. Yeah, it was interesting how they know you 474 00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:10.000 don't want to talk about him. But it's the odd ball, you know, 475 00:35:10.039 --> 00:35:14.800 on the graph of our memories that stands out, you know, it's 476 00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:20.159 the peak on the graph. And and without exception, his character and what 477 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:23.480 he's done and the spinning of tales, that is the peak on a graph. 478 00:35:23.639 --> 00:35:29.440 There we know. I don't know that anybody else knows anybody that has 479 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:35.800 tried to spin so much fiction as reality. He's the champion when it comes 480 00:35:35.800 --> 00:35:38.440 to that kind of stuff. And the only reason we end up talking about 481 00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:44.000 him because he keeps publicizing the stuff he keeps telling. He can't let he 482 00:35:44.119 --> 00:35:47.039 can't let the story go because it would be you know, he would lose 483 00:35:47.159 --> 00:35:52.159 face. So he can't admit that there was no Kuma Tay, he didn't 484 00:35:52.199 --> 00:35:58.840 win this trophy in the Kua. He wasn't not the first NOD agent to 485 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:04.679 win the Kuma to him in and then he always spends these stories further and 486 00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:07.800 said that, well, he was awarded a sword, a special sword because 487 00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:12.400 he was the winner of the Kumata. So people have asked him, but 488 00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:14.599 where's that sword? Can we see the sword? No, I don't have 489 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:19.920 it anymore because I traded it. Uh. There were some pirates that had 490 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:23.480 some orphans that they had taken hostage. Have you guys heard the story before? 491 00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:30.039 Now a boatload of orphans orphans, okay, that we're being held hostage 492 00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:37.360 by pirates, and he traded them his sword for the freedom of these orphans. 493 00:36:37.559 --> 00:36:39.519 All right, I'm not making this up. He's the one who's making 494 00:36:39.559 --> 00:36:45.280 it up. I'm just he came up with crazy shit. Wanted that because 495 00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:50.079 when when pirates want to hold people hostage, the number one thing they want 496 00:36:50.280 --> 00:36:53.880 in return for the hostages is a sword. A sword. Yeah, yeah, 497 00:36:53.880 --> 00:36:58.159 well they want they want money, but the sword it is to Pluma 498 00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:00.239 Tay sword. So wow, that's worth a lot of money. So okay, 499 00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:05.960 we'll do a sword here. You can take all the orphans. And 500 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:09.000 then he says all some of the subsidies he said on the internet, and 501 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:12.840 he says, well, I'm still in touch with those orphans. Today, 502 00:37:12.960 --> 00:37:15.599 they're you know, they're all growing up, and they would kindle for me 503 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:19.760 if I asked him to. Let's interviewed those or friends, Frank right right 504 00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:22.079 there, in touch with them, give us their names. So you shot 505 00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:27.199 Firefight in eighty three, it comes out in eighty six, you said, 506 00:37:27.239 --> 00:37:30.360 I think, rec Yes, So in the meantime, are you still keeping 507 00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:32.519 in touch with everybody? Or Brian, are you just going like, yeah, 508 00:37:32.599 --> 00:37:36.159 shut this in a couple of years ago. I don't know what's going 509 00:37:36.199 --> 00:37:39.360 on. Basically, Brian and I became really good friends on the bed of 510 00:37:39.400 --> 00:37:45.599 Firefight and we stayed in touch. We've been We've been friends ever since then, 511 00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:47.639 you know. So I've ended up using him in other movies. I 512 00:37:47.719 --> 00:37:52.840 even created roles for him, like the role in Lion Art that the character 513 00:37:52.920 --> 00:37:55.679 Russell did not exist, but I wanted to put Brian Thompson in the movie, 514 00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:00.000 so I came up with that character and that worked out pretty dark good, 515 00:38:00.480 --> 00:38:02.840 And it was kind of an impromptu thing for Jean Claude to kick you 516 00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:07.159 in the face at the end and the fight. Yeah, we just came 517 00:38:07.239 --> 00:38:09.679 up with that just on the spot, like hey, Brian, what Jean 518 00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:14.000 Claude, what if he kicked Brian in the face and he gets locked back 519 00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:15.159 in the stand. Very good idea, Brian. What do you think? 520 00:38:15.239 --> 00:38:17.679 Yeah, okay, I love it and Shell I don't know if I told 521 00:38:17.719 --> 00:38:22.840 you. A lot of people comment about that. That is a memorable moment 522 00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:24.440 of the movie. They go, Jean, thought kicked you in the face? 523 00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:28.199 They come up. I've had people come up and say that to me. 524 00:38:28.599 --> 00:38:31.880 I have read about it online also where people talk about that being one 525 00:38:31.880 --> 00:38:37.320 of their One of the highlights of the movie is the fact that Brian's character 526 00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:39.840 gets his come up and at the end for being such a jerk, he 527 00:38:39.880 --> 00:38:43.800 gets his come up and said, Van damn kicks on the face. And 528 00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:46.400 you know, I saw the movie a number of times with audiences and that 529 00:38:46.440 --> 00:38:50.760 did get applause. That was a fun movie to make. And by the 530 00:38:50.800 --> 00:38:55.400 way, I'm doing a autograph show next weekend. Actually I'm leading Saturday of 531 00:38:55.559 --> 00:39:00.639 going to New Jersey. Debrah Renard is one of those one of the guests 532 00:39:00.679 --> 00:39:05.840 there. The name of that that one, Sheldon. It's just like super 533 00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:10.039 Megafest or something. It's not Dot Chiller, No, it's it's in New 534 00:39:10.119 --> 00:39:14.480 Jersey. You've been to a number of these, right, I yeah, 535 00:39:14.519 --> 00:39:17.039 I do. I do a couple every year. I haven't done one yet, 536 00:39:17.199 --> 00:39:21.440 so so well, we'll see how that goes. Yeah, do you 537 00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:22.920 have it? Do you have a nice pick proved yourself to autograph? What 538 00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:27.559 are you autographing? I have enough few of them. They asked me to 539 00:39:28.639 --> 00:39:30.840 make a make a few eight by tens. Yeah, I've got a little 540 00:39:30.840 --> 00:39:37.920 stack ofver' here. I've got mostly mostly one photos of me with some other 541 00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:43.559 major celebrity. So I've got one with me and John Claude and Charlton Hesson. 542 00:39:44.119 --> 00:39:46.840 I've got one with me and Dolph Flunggern, and I do have one 543 00:39:46.880 --> 00:39:53.840 from Linlard with Debora Roynard and Harrison Page and John Claude. So we've taken 544 00:39:53.920 --> 00:39:59.760 those with me and autographing them. So when did you decide to restore Firefight 545 00:39:59.800 --> 00:40:02.840 and did the whole two k restoration? I'm at I'd been wanting to do 546 00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:07.719 it for a long time and this is not an inexpensive process. And my 547 00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:14.199 friend Luis Esteban, who co wrote Only, was strong with me. He 548 00:40:14.280 --> 00:40:19.639 was working on a film. They were having work done at a lab called 549 00:40:19.639 --> 00:40:23.559 Photocam in Los Angeles, so he was in he was in pretty tight with 550 00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:29.199 some of the people that were doing that. We're doing work there at Photocam, 551 00:40:29.960 --> 00:40:30.840 and I asked him, Hey, Louke, can you look me up 552 00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:35.719 with some of these whoever it is that you're working with and let me see 553 00:40:35.719 --> 00:40:40.639 if I can get Firefight transferred for you without paying an exorbitant price. Yes, 554 00:40:40.760 --> 00:40:45.119 so he looked me up with somebody who was doing that kind of stuff. 555 00:40:45.440 --> 00:40:47.760 I brought over the thirty five millimeter print. They made the two K 556 00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:52.400 version from the print, and I think it looks gorgeous. There was also 557 00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:55.599 the option to go four K with it. Four K was going to be 558 00:40:55.639 --> 00:41:00.400 at least twice as much money. Plus I wasn't planning on screening to some 559 00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:05.119 movie shooters. Yeah, two K is good enough. You know you've got 560 00:41:05.119 --> 00:41:07.559 your seventy inch TV at home. Two k's a little bit pretty damn good 561 00:41:07.559 --> 00:41:10.960 on that. Four K is that you're going to be projecting it on a 562 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:16.199 big screen in the movies theither and I wasn't going to do that, so 563 00:41:16.199 --> 00:41:20.880 so we went with two K. And what was it like for you when 564 00:41:20.880 --> 00:41:23.519 you got to actually hold that book in your hands and see, you know, 565 00:41:23.559 --> 00:41:28.840 your life all spread out in those pages. It was kind of thrilling, 566 00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:32.360 but kind of anti claimactic also because you know, we've spent months working 567 00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:37.039 on it. I had the galley proofs and all of that, so I 568 00:41:37.119 --> 00:41:40.079 spent enough time looking through it to where it wasn't It wasn't that much of 569 00:41:40.119 --> 00:41:45.159 a thrill, Just like watching my movies. By the time you brew making 570 00:41:45.239 --> 00:41:50.559 these movies, you've watched the damn movie a hundred times, You've watched every 571 00:41:50.599 --> 00:41:53.519 shot one hundred times. You're you're a little tired of it. The only 572 00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:59.519 way to get a thrill out of watching one of my old movies with an 573 00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:01.440 audience. I can see what an audience you kind of, you can kind 574 00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:07.320 of I can feel their reaction, and that's that's pretty cool to watch it 575 00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:10.880 on a big screen with an audience in a theater. But otherwise I can't 576 00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:16.320 put I can't put Lion Art up on the I can't put DVD on and 577 00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:20.480 and watch it again. I've just seen it too many times. Yeah, 578 00:42:20.519 --> 00:42:23.360 and then you know, then you know we did. We did the DVDs 579 00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:28.840 and Blu rays with the commentary. So it's just no kind of a thrill 580 00:42:29.039 --> 00:42:32.400 for me to see it anymore unless I'm watching it with an audience, and 581 00:42:34.079 --> 00:42:37.320 with the book, of course, you can't watch that with an audience. 582 00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:40.599 But with the book, it's just great hearing people talk about it. To 583 00:42:40.639 --> 00:42:45.679 see the reviews. We've got all these reviews on Amazon and basically, yeah, 584 00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:51.760 people give it if it's five stars, so it's done well. People 585 00:42:51.760 --> 00:42:54.320 have liked it. Here we are talking about it on a zoom section, 586 00:42:54.519 --> 00:42:59.159 so that's um, I get it. I get a real kick out of 587 00:42:59.159 --> 00:43:01.599 that. I love talking about the book, I love talking about my career. 588 00:43:01.719 --> 00:43:06.480 All of that is great, but actually holding it in my hands well 589 00:43:06.840 --> 00:43:10.039 kind of does nothing for him. Because I've I've always read every one of 590 00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:13.800 these pages, in the fact, but worked on every one of these pages. 591 00:43:14.039 --> 00:43:17.119 The big thrill is just saying that it's out there, it's in bookstores, 592 00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:23.000 and that's the rage, the real satisfaction. I do want to ask. 593 00:43:23.039 --> 00:43:25.920 I know you said that you've got the autograph show coming up. What 594 00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:30.639 else are you working on these days? Well, I'm working on a few 595 00:43:30.760 --> 00:43:36.800 different projects. Actually, we'll see if any of them comes to fruition. 596 00:43:37.320 --> 00:43:42.519 But there's one that I've been involved with for about a year called Fight Pride. 597 00:43:42.679 --> 00:43:45.280 You can see that on It's all IMDb, and it's who he's starring. 598 00:43:45.320 --> 00:43:51.800 This guy named Daniel Stison who's from Norway's Norwegian, and he's in a 599 00:43:51.800 --> 00:43:55.639 new movie that's just out. Hey, Jim just came out this week. 600 00:43:57.039 --> 00:44:00.519 But the parents getting great reviewed and needs to getting great review you so, 601 00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:05.320 and he's sort of a he's sort of like an eighties and nineties action star. 602 00:44:06.039 --> 00:44:08.599 So Daniel's gonna star in it. And it's the script itself is quite 603 00:44:08.599 --> 00:44:12.639 good. I did not write the script. It's in the vein of lion 604 00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:17.400 Art. It's that kind of a movie. It's basically illegal underground fights and 605 00:44:17.519 --> 00:44:22.079 this guy gets involved with these fights. I's got a fight for, you 606 00:44:22.159 --> 00:44:25.320 know, a family member, So it's like a lion Art anyway, that's 607 00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:30.239 why they went after me to direct this show. Then I've got another one 608 00:44:30.599 --> 00:44:37.559 called Lioness, and it's for a female action star that's been perfulating for a 609 00:44:37.559 --> 00:44:42.320 while. My friend Luis es Saban has optioned it. He's got some he's 610 00:44:42.360 --> 00:44:46.039 got some money people that he's working with. And we've got Michael Ji White's 611 00:44:46.039 --> 00:44:52.360 wife is related to star in it lay the lead character. And Michael Ji 612 00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:54.440 White's going to be in it as well, and those are not two active 613 00:44:54.519 --> 00:45:00.840 we have so far. Bryan's name has been mentioned many times the lead roles. 614 00:45:00.320 --> 00:45:04.840 We'll see how that goes. Okay, Bryan, But Ryan's part of 615 00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:07.639 my repertory company here, you know, John, Bob bad Dam and Brian 616 00:45:07.679 --> 00:45:12.440 Thompson got to use some with every to Damn movie. We'll see how that 617 00:45:12.519 --> 00:45:19.400 goes. And I'm working on another project called Warrior Island, which is based 618 00:45:19.480 --> 00:45:22.719 on a comic book. Brian, how about yourself? What are you working 619 00:45:22.760 --> 00:45:27.320 on these days? I am doing what I normally do in my acting career, 620 00:45:27.400 --> 00:45:32.000 which is looking for the next big job. I unfortunately got a bit 621 00:45:32.039 --> 00:45:39.239 spoiled working on Macbeth with mister Denzel. That's it's getting to work on a 622 00:45:39.360 --> 00:45:45.360 large budget art project. We actually get rehearsal spoils you a bit, and 623 00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:50.199 and luckily we're at that stage of our career where we don't have to take 624 00:45:50.199 --> 00:45:53.960 a job. We're we're covered. So I'm looking for the next part. 625 00:45:54.039 --> 00:45:58.159 That is, you know, something that I haven't done before, or even 626 00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:01.079 if it's something you've done before, but it's uh, it's got a good 627 00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:06.800 budget, it's got good cast, you'd probably or if I get to work 628 00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:08.800 with my friends. That's the next thing there, you go, okay, 629 00:46:09.480 --> 00:46:14.599 right, because some of the low budget movies that I've worked on were the 630 00:46:14.639 --> 00:46:20.320 most satisfying because they allowed you to have more input. Perfect target was mentioned 631 00:46:20.559 --> 00:46:23.119 earlier. I think it looked like Corey had to leave us. But that 632 00:46:23.280 --> 00:46:29.079 was one of the more low budget projects that I've made, and we had 633 00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:32.599 the tightest shooting schedule ever. It was like twenty days or twenty one days. 634 00:46:34.079 --> 00:46:37.559 But we had a lot of fun making it. I must say, 635 00:46:37.800 --> 00:46:42.760 one of my more more enjoyable experiences. We were in We're in for Torta, 636 00:46:43.280 --> 00:46:45.800 Mexico. Okay, so we're in this resort town. We're all staying 637 00:46:45.800 --> 00:46:52.719 in this resort hotel. We had robertert England was Brian is a co conspirator. 638 00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:58.360 Okay, So we had our two batties were Bryan Thompson and Robert dah 639 00:46:58.559 --> 00:47:04.920 And we had a really good Mexical cast, a beautiful soap operas star Julietta 640 00:47:05.039 --> 00:47:13.199 Julietta Rosen. Right, we had this strange serbian woman playing a Mexican, 641 00:47:13.559 --> 00:47:19.440 remember Dara Tomanovich. A cool thing about that movie, It's got great action 642 00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:24.960 sequences because the fight choreographer was Chad Stahlski. Well, Chad has gone on, 643 00:47:25.280 --> 00:47:30.960 he's directed all the John Wick movies. Yeah, and David Leach was 644 00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.719 there too. Was David Leach's first movie and Bride. You remember David Leach 645 00:47:34.840 --> 00:47:40.079 from The Order absolutely and David. David doubled the Van dam and David's got 646 00:47:40.119 --> 00:47:45.920 on to direct some big movies. He's been doing huge movies. Those guys 647 00:47:45.920 --> 00:47:51.760 would become like the two action kings of Hollywood. So yeah, we had 648 00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:57.119 both of them on the shelf. Interesting little anecdote. David Leach was John 649 00:47:57.199 --> 00:48:01.159 Claude stunt double on The Order, which Ryan was also in. Ryan of 650 00:48:01.199 --> 00:48:06.039 course playing playing a villain of this character as usual, Yeah, I was. 651 00:48:06.480 --> 00:48:08.840 We're just going with typecasting of that one. But although he played this 652 00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:14.159 religious meter so that was a bit different, so you didn't realize he was 653 00:48:14.199 --> 00:48:19.800 a villain at first. Although I must say, people when people see Brian 654 00:48:19.880 --> 00:48:25.199 Thompson here, Brian Thompson, some people we know, we know he's gonna 655 00:48:25.239 --> 00:48:30.440 be the villain, all right, we know there's something there's something not straight 656 00:48:30.480 --> 00:48:34.360 about this character. Well untrue. You know. This year's project, I 657 00:48:34.960 --> 00:48:38.079 played the older, wiser pickle ball player for uh, you know, a 658 00:48:38.119 --> 00:48:45.760 series for Roku. I'm the older, wiser pickle ball player with advice for 659 00:48:45.880 --> 00:48:50.960 the young and well, it's a far cry from the the night Stalker and 660 00:48:51.079 --> 00:48:57.039 what was your character's name in Mortal Kombat show con We're supposed to have this 661 00:48:57.679 --> 00:49:05.440 big final fight at the end, Van Damn versus Bryan Thompson, and I 662 00:49:05.480 --> 00:49:08.719 wanted him to be a sword fight. We had all this medieval stuff in 663 00:49:08.760 --> 00:49:15.239 there, this medieval order, and we were shooting in Israel. And so 664 00:49:16.320 --> 00:49:21.599 Brian had done on the Conan Show Universal for a number of years, so 665 00:49:21.639 --> 00:49:27.239 he was quite adept with stores, and David Leach was also a real expert 666 00:49:27.280 --> 00:49:31.800 when it came to edged weapons. So I had a perfect combination for an 667 00:49:31.840 --> 00:49:38.519 awesome sword fight. So Brian and David spent days working on the choreography for 668 00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:43.440 the sword fight, and then on the day we get to the set, 669 00:49:43.960 --> 00:49:49.280 Jean Claude, who is not was not adept with weapons at all, just 670 00:49:49.480 --> 00:49:52.480 decided I'm not going to learn how to do this shit. Let's just forget 671 00:49:52.480 --> 00:49:57.519 about the sword fight. Let's do some other stuff. And David was very 672 00:49:57.639 --> 00:50:01.400 very disappointed because he had worked that a great sequence and Ryan, of course, 673 00:50:01.760 --> 00:50:07.440 I know you. We had rehearsed hours right right. And it wasn't 674 00:50:07.480 --> 00:50:10.480 that it wasn't that John Claude couldn't do it. It just he couldn't remember 675 00:50:10.480 --> 00:50:15.679 it right right, Yeah, And it was it was extremely dangerous because you 676 00:50:15.719 --> 00:50:20.159 didn't know where the sword swing was going to come from. And we had 677 00:50:20.239 --> 00:50:23.280 we had faked swords. We had real swords also, and they weren't real 678 00:50:23.360 --> 00:50:28.519 sharp. But even so it was a dangerous. It was a dangerous sequence 679 00:50:28.559 --> 00:50:31.360 to shoot. And I think John clod just realized that I'm probably gonna get 680 00:50:31.400 --> 00:50:35.159 hurt or I'm going to hurt somebody because I don't know if the hell I'm 681 00:50:35.199 --> 00:50:38.719 doing. And then remember he was saying he wanted he wanted to fly like 682 00:50:38.719 --> 00:50:43.039 like Matrix had been out at that time, and he wanted to like float 683 00:50:43.039 --> 00:50:45.320 through the air and something. It was like, yeah, so we set 684 00:50:45.360 --> 00:50:50.400 that up, we set up the cabling system, and that didn't work out 685 00:50:50.440 --> 00:50:54.199 too well, suffly because he wasn't cooperating with us. And you know, 686 00:50:54.280 --> 00:50:58.880 it was you couldn't community and you couldn't communicate with him right right. And 687 00:50:58.960 --> 00:51:02.280 David is the one that was sending up this this this cable system. So 688 00:51:02.960 --> 00:51:08.519 basically, John Claude just pissed off the guy who is basically one of the 689 00:51:09.280 --> 00:51:15.920 kings of action movies nowadays. So if you go to David Leach and chats 690 00:51:15.960 --> 00:51:20.519 to hell Ski and you say, hey, what if we get John Claude 691 00:51:20.559 --> 00:51:24.480 Vandam to do a cameo in the next John Wick, They're gonna say storry 692 00:51:24.599 --> 00:51:29.440 But no, no, let's we've got some other choices and we'll go with 693 00:51:29.480 --> 00:51:34.000 them instead. But yeah, basically, you know those those he didn't realize 694 00:51:34.000 --> 00:51:37.159 it at the time, but David was the wrong guy to piss off. 695 00:51:37.159 --> 00:51:40.280 He was the wrong guy to pull the rug out from under and I think 696 00:51:40.280 --> 00:51:45.639 he's been If you mentioned John Claude, he will not have positive things to 697 00:51:45.639 --> 00:51:50.480 say. I'm sorry to say that here on this Zoom session, but it's 698 00:51:50.480 --> 00:51:54.239 true that happened. Ryan was there. We would have had an awesome Stord 699 00:51:54.320 --> 00:51:58.239 fight, but he just didn't want to do it. So so there, 700 00:51:58.280 --> 00:52:00.800 it's just very, very disappointing. And I think, yeah, and you 701 00:52:00.880 --> 00:52:04.800 know, you're scared. If an actor is scared and has to work in 702 00:52:04.840 --> 00:52:07.760 front of a camera, it's not gonna work. And I was. I 703 00:52:07.800 --> 00:52:10.679 was scared. I was scared because I didn't know what John Thodd was going 704 00:52:10.719 --> 00:52:15.719 to do with that sort. It was one hundred percent unpredictable, right right, 705 00:52:15.719 --> 00:52:21.400 He's got a lot of control with his legs, with his hands, 706 00:52:22.320 --> 00:52:25.719 holding a weapon in his hands. Uh yeah, you can't. You really 707 00:52:25.719 --> 00:52:30.480 can't predict how that's going to go. I don't think he's ever done any 708 00:52:30.559 --> 00:52:34.440 kind of a weapon's fight. It lasted more than a few seconds. I 709 00:52:34.519 --> 00:52:37.000 certainly never did what it was. This is gonna be the first time, 710 00:52:37.519 --> 00:52:40.159 and he just didn't want to do it. Now Mark the Coscos was completely 711 00:52:40.159 --> 00:52:45.320 a different story when it came to weapons. Mark was really good with weapons 712 00:52:45.440 --> 00:52:49.599 and he'd been trading with weapons good post of his adult life. So with 713 00:52:49.760 --> 00:52:52.519 Mark I had, we did, we did. We did a lot of 714 00:52:52.519 --> 00:52:58.400 weapons stuff in and only was strong. And there's never any worries about Mark 715 00:52:58.800 --> 00:53:02.639 hurting anybody or about Mark getting hurt. So different actor, different kind of 716 00:53:02.639 --> 00:53:06.199 scenes. As long as you're doing the kicks in the punches, Joan, 717 00:53:06.400 --> 00:53:10.800 that's great, but don't use knives and swords and you know guns, of 718 00:53:10.800 --> 00:53:15.920 course, anybody can do guns, all right. All you gotta do is 719 00:53:15.239 --> 00:53:20.239 hold it up, pull the trigger and it goes boom boom bool, but 720 00:53:20.559 --> 00:53:24.480 swords that's uh, that's a completely different wall game. Once again. The 721 00:53:24.559 --> 00:53:28.880 name of the book is Sheldon Letitch from Vietnam to Van Damn. The name 722 00:53:28.880 --> 00:53:31.559 of the short film that is now restored and available for you to watch on 723 00:53:31.599 --> 00:53:36.679 YouTube is Firefight. Thank you so much, mister Lettich. Thank you so 724 00:53:36.760 --> 00:53:39.800 much, mister Thompson. This has been fantastic. You're very welcome. Thank 725 00:53:39.880 --> 00:54:07.840 you. I am a friend, my fire. I'm gonna push it all 726 00:54:07.960 --> 00:54:17.320 of the wild time time, the drunk final battles already, Moore, I'll 727 00:54:17.400 --> 00:54:28.800 takeful coverymol get strange by the breast. I'm gonna string my friend. I 728 00:54:29.039 --> 00:54:52.280 fight your soup. I don't till day to friend by a body. I'm 729 00:54:52.320 --> 00:55:00.000 a puffect cheaper. That's my chance to it. I'm taking hold. However, 730 00:55:00.440 --> 00:55:22.119 Moore says, I won't stay my bad I fight you too,