Exclusive: Director Sheldon Lettich Celebrates ‘Lionheart’ 30 Years Later

Photos provided by Sheldon Lettich

It was 1988 when Jean-Claude Van Damme first made an impression on audiences around the world in Bloodsport. It was a modest hit for Cannon Films, but it was the relationship that was forged between the star and that film’s co-writer Sheldon Lettich, leading them both to milestones in their careers. Lionheart was the first major studio release for the actor and the directorial debut for Lettich. This year, 2021, is the 30th anniversary of the picture and to help take a closer look back at one of the best action movies of that era is co-writer/director Sheldon Lettich.

Lionheart is the story of Lyon Gaultier (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a soldier in the French Foreign Legion, who learns of his brother’s death and begs his superiors to be released. When they turn him down with nothing but the clothes on his back, Lyon escapes to the United States where he stumbles into an underground fighting ring. Realizing he has found an opportunity to make major money, he teams up with down on his luck former street fighter Joshua (Harrison Page) to make his way through the ranks and bank as much money as he can so he can help his brother’s widow and his niece. The head of the organization, Cynthia (Deborah Rennard), has other plans for Lyon when he threatens to leave.

Jean-Claude Van Damme came up with the original story for a film he wanted to do, Wrong Bet, which was loosely influenced by the Charles Bronson classic Hard Times. Although his career was really picking up steam at this time, it was a rather long and winding road getting it to where it needed to be.

“Okay, now we had a story, and a perfect Van Damme vehicle!”

Photo provided by Sheldon Lettich

“Jean-Claude pitched that idea to me one night in a coffee shop named Ben Frank’s, which used to be on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.  We decided that this fighter should acquire a sidekick, an ostensible ‘manager’ like the James Coburn character in Hard Times. I happened to be working on a French Foreign Legion screenplay around that same time for Sylvester Stallone’s company, White Eagle Productions.  I enlisted Jean-Claude’s assistance on that one a few times, to help me come up with some colorful French phrases and expletives to use in the screenplay. This got us talking about the Legion, both of us realizing that a French Legionnaire would be an ideal character for Van Damme to play. So it made perfect sense that our French fighter could be in the Legion, but he’s forced to desert when he gets the news that his sister-in-law is in trouble, and his commander won’t allow him to go on Leave in order to take care of the family problem. Okay, now we had a story, and a perfect Van Damme vehicle!

Over many cups of coffee (and nothing else), we fleshed out a lot more details over many hours that night, including the tough-as-nails woman who runs an illegal fight circuit in New York and Los Angeles. Finally our brainstorming session came to an abrupt end when a Sheriff’s Deputy entered the shop and asked the two of us to leave. Apparently, the manager of the shop got tired of us hogging space in one of his booths and ordering nothing but endless coffee refills,” Sheldon recalls.

Photo provided by Sheldon Lettich

Though it seemed to be on the fast track, it wasn’t quite that easy. He continues, “Around the same time, Van Damme was being courted by producer Sunil Shah, who had produced his movie Black Eagle. Sunil asked Jean-Claude if he had any scripts or ideas that could serve as a starring vehicle for him in a low budget action movie. Jean-Claude pitched him Wrong Bet, which Sunil liked, and very shortly they were in business. Jean-Claude wanted me to write the screenplay, but at that time I had already co-written Rambo III, which to Sunil was impressive, although it put me outside of his budget range for a screenwriter. I was also a member of the Writers Guild of America, which meant that Sunil would have to follow their somewhat stringent labor rules; he would have to pay into the WGA Health, Welfare, and Pension fund, plus he would be obligated to pay residuals to me for the lifetime of the movie once it began bringing in profits. Not wanting to play by those potentially expensive rules, he opted to hire a much cheaper, non-WGA writer.

“Van Damme and myself really wanted to prove that he could be an actor as well as a fighter, and we very deliberately went against many of the current action movie conventions.”

Photo provided by Sheldon Lettich

Sunil’s first choice to direct Wrong Bet was Eric Karson, who had directed Black Eagle for him. Eric brought along a friend of his, Stephanie Warren, a non-WGA writer, who had written the screenplay for Angel Town, which was the first starring role for Olivier Gruner and was produced for Imperial Entertainment by Sunil’s younger brother, Ash Shah, and had been directed by Eric. Stephanie was hired by Sunil and Ash to turn Jean-Claude’s idea into a screenplay. A few months later she delivered her draft, and Jean-Claude immediately hated it. Actually, no one except for Eric Karson seemed to like it at all. As I recall, after reading the draft, it didn’t seem like a screenplay for an action movie at all, and read more like some lukewarm drama you might see on The Hallmark Channel. Not surprisingly, at Jean-Claude’s insistence, shortly afterwards I was hired to write a completely new draft of Wrong Bet as an action movie, not using any of Stephanie’s material, starting completely from scratch. The only thing I kept from her draft was the nom de guerre that she had Cynthia give to her new fighter: Lionheart.”

Several different factors contributed to the film’s success. One such factor, possibly the most important, was how perfect the casting was. Van Damme’s characters until Lionheart were mostly one-dimensional. It really feels as if the actors he’s surrounded by in this particular film helped him to really stretch his skills and deliver one of his career best performances. Lettich chimes in, “Van Damme and myself really wanted to prove that he could be an actor as well as a fighter, and we very deliberately went against many of the current action movie conventions. One of the unwritten “rules” for action movies at the time was that if a family member is killed or injured in the first act, the protagonist spends the rest of the movie hunting down and violently exacting vengeance upon the people who injured and disrespected his family. We didn’t do that, not at all: Lyon never even chases after the guys who killed his brother. Also, Lyon’s final fight is against an opponent whom the audience had never met before, and who had never even crossed paths with him earlier. If we had been following the typical template, Attila would have been the guy who ordered Lyon’s brother to be killed, either that or he would have been the one who tossed the lighted match.”

“I worked with a crew that was constantly testing me, mainly because I was a first-time director…”

Photo provided by Sheldon Lettich

The cast of Lionheart filled out rather quickly with familiar faces as well as newcomers. Performers like Deborah Rennard and Ashley Johnson had just begun to get their feet wet in the business, but it was the casting of Harrison Page that really added something special to the picture. Lettich confirms, “Harrison is a very talented and experienced actor, who has no compunctions about ad-libbing lines, especially when they seem to be naturally flowing out of the character he’s portraying. He put much of his own self, and of his father, into that role. Many of his funniest lines were ad-libbed on the spot, while the cameras were rolling.”

With plenty of other roles in need of performers, Lettich relied on his casting director James Tarzia to help him along the way. “I believe this was the first movie that James helped choose the cast for. He’s the one who brought most of those actors in to read for parts. Van Damme and I used him for our next feature, Double Impact, which also introduced him to producer Moshe Diamant. He pretty much became the go-to guy for casting martial arts movies afterwards. I used him on Only the Strong and a few of my other movies. He went on to cast the Best of the Best movies, The Quest, and many others. I brought my actor-friend, Brian Thompson, into the mix, and then later used him on a few of my other movies as well. I also brought along Voyo Goric, who had been in a movie I co-wrote titled Russkies. Jean-Claude brought along the brothers Michel Qissi and Abdel Qissi, who were friends of his from Belgium, and who had trained in martial arts with him. Michel had previously played the villain, Tong Po, in Kickboxer. He also brought along Stefanos Miltsakakis, who was in Cyborg with him, and later appeared in a couple more of his films. Frank Dux brought us Jeff Langton, who plays Cynthia’s fighter, Sonny, the one who very famously goes down after one punch to the nuts.” He continues, “We found our fighters, however, by hosting an open casting call at Frank Dux’s dojo in North Hollywood. We actually had 1,000 fighters come in and try out for the movie. I know it was a thousand, because we had a numbered list of names of every fighter that tried out.”

Photo provided by Sheldon Lettich

On the subject of bringing friends in to work with, Lettich was happy and excited to bring along a couple of his. He explains, “I brought along Lawrence Bender and Scott Spiegel, to play minor roles.  Lawrence’s role was small, but memorable. They were part of my circle of friends at the time, a circle which included the likes of Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Boaz Yakin, Chuck Pfarrer, Rob Tapert, and eventually, Quentin Tarantino. Oddly enough, Quentin was working for Imperial Entertainment at the time, selling their movies to video stores all across the country. That’s how I first met him, because his office was adjacent to our production office.  I ended up introducing him to Scott Spiegel and Lawrence Bender, and the rest is Cinema history.”

“…Van Damme came up with the idea of just giving him one punch to the nuts, which turned out to be one of the most memorable moments in the movie.”

Even being surrounded by friends doesn’t always mean a shoot will go smoothly. At the time, Sheldon Lettich was known as a screenwriter and Lionheart would be his directorial debut, which wasn’t easy. He recollects, “I worked with a crew that was constantly testing me, mainly because I was a first-time director, and they all assumed they knew more about making movies than I did, especially the Director Of Photography, who I was just an inch away from firing. I was really being too much of a “nice guy” to them at first, and I learned to be more assertive on the films I directed afterwards. I think many of them had serious doubts that this movie would turn out to be anything other than a cheap “choppy-socky,” and be nowhere near the box office success or genre-busting classic that it eventually became or that it would turn Van Damme into a movie star. It was independently produced by Imperial Entertainment. They then sold distribution rights to Universal and to various other distribution companies around the world. Some of these distributors then changed the title of the movie for release in their own territories, to something that would be more appealing and understandable to their particular audiences.”

Photo provided by Sheldon Lettich

Two things that have always really stood out in regards to Lionheart was the fight choreography and the score. The action scenes were unique, and Sheldon will be the first to point out that it was a team effort bringing them to the screen. He states, “I came up with some of the concepts and the venues for the fights, the swimming pool fight especially. But I pretty much let Van Damme, Michel Qissi, and Frank Dux come up with the actual fight moves. The fight with Sonny, played by Jeff Langton, was choreographed to be a longer and much more elaborate fight, but Van Damme came up with the idea of just giving him one punch to the nuts, which turned out to be one of the most memorable moments in the movie.” Sheldon continues, “For the soundtrack, John Scott and I watched and spotted the movie together, but other than that I gave him very little direction. What made a big difference is that the producers gave him a very lavish budget, which allowed him to create a score for a full orchestra, which he then conducted with a real symphony orchestra in Munich, Germany. The one track of his that I disliked was the one he created for the pool fight. We then hired another composer, Steve Edwards, who was younger and much less experienced, but who created a very appropriate Reggae-flavored piece for that scene, with no live orchestra at all but only using a synthesizer.”

“Women love the film!”

Much like the underdog nature of the lead character, the modestly budgeted film would go on to gross over $24 million dollars worldwide. When it was released on January 11, 1991, it debuted in the number three slot and cemented Van Damme as a bona fide action star. He had cross-over appeal; men loved the action and women responded to his character. Lettich explains, “Women love the film! Among Van Damme’s many female fans it’s consistently a favorite, probably because he shows a tender side of his personality that’s not often seen in his films, a side that’s not frequently displayed by other action stars either. The scenes with his little niece, Nicole, are particularly heartwarming, without being saccharine or smarmy. Maybe I’m stereotyping somewhat, but I have heard this over and over again from women who love this movie, and who love it above all his other movies.”

Photo provided by Sheldon Lettich

On June 12, 2018, the MVD Rewind Collection released a massive special edition featuring an extended cut of the film. “That Blu-ray that MVD released was very close to the Directors Cut that I had initially turned in to the producers. The “Platinum Cult Edition” released under the German title, Leon by Oliver Krekel’s company, Digidreams, was also very complete. The reason that there are any variations at all was that the executives at Universal mandated a few cuts and changes for the US release. I’m not sure that any other distributor mandated any changes at all.” Along with the title Leon, Lionheart was also known as AWOL, A.W.O.L, Wrong Bet, Absent Without Leave, and Full Contact.

“I don’t believe it’s (a sequel) actually happening…”

Lionheart is a movie from the early ’90s that still holds up. While the action draws you in, Van Damme’s character and how he relates to the others around him take it to another other level. Reflecting on its success, Sheldon had this to say, “The entire movie exceeded anyone’s expectations. It was the first Van Damme movie to be picked up and released by a major studio in the USA, which was more than any of us could have hoped for while we were filming it. It also led to Van Damme starring in a number of subsequent movies for Universal, all of which were released theatrically.”

In early 2018, Van Damme announced that a sequel was in the works and would begin shooting later that year. Nothing ever materialized and talks have disappeared. “I don’t believe it’s actually happening, but it has been talked about. Van Damme has also discussed the possibility with me, and of getting me involved, but there hasn’t been anything concrete on the table.  Not yet,” he states optimistically.

Who knows if we will ever see Lyon back on the screen. Even if we don’t, Lionheart will remain a highlight of the ’90s action craze. Watching it now, there’s no question it was something special, especially since it has stood the test of time.


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