Steven Seagal: The Nightmare Of Women And Film Crews, And The Action Star Of The 90's. The Rise And Fall Of The Legend

Steven Seagal's name is associated with a number of legends and myths. In the past, he boasted about working for the CIA, fighting the Japanese mafia or his alleged invincibility. 

He is also controversial for numerous allegations of sexual harassment that did involved not only adult women. People who have known Seagal personally often say that as a person he was not worth much. However, it cannot be denied that he was once the leader of the B-rated action movies.

He broke Sean Connery's wrist

Steven Seagal is without a doubt one of the great legends of the American action scene. His career had a rapid start in the late 1980s and during the 1990s. During that period, he made several fairly decent films, of which he certainly does not have to be ashamed. Later, however, his 'achievements' were replaced by a low-quality production full of below-average films. Only his rock enthusiasts can enjoy his films today.

At the beginning of his career, he was brought to prominence by the then relatively unknown martial art of aikido, which Seagal learned in Japan, where he moved as a young man for a few years. He also allegedly took part in the local war with the yakuza mafia. However, like many other dubious statements, he could not prove that to be true.

"Seagal was able to catch the wave. He was never a star like Arnold or Stallone, but at one time he was the highest in the B-League. Chuck Norris was old, and unlike Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damm, Seagal was American, so he had a better accent for the audience. The second thing is that his aikido was definitely more interesting than regular karate. Furthermore, compared to Van Damm, he did not do 'arena games' (films from the arena, such as Bloody Sport or Kickboxer), but action criminals, which were more accessible. Last but not least, he had better distribution because he worked under Warner, " explained the reasons for its initial success by film publicist and director Peter Pavlík.

While Seagal worked his way up to his career as an actor, he taught aikido, martial art which he learned during his time in Japan. His first big experience in the film business was working with Sean Connery on Never Say Never Again (1983), where Seagal took on the role of fight-scene choreographer. He broke Connery's wrist during one of the exercises , and it is entirely possible that it was not an accident.

According to The Independent, Connery claimed in an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that Seagal did it on purpose. Seagal apparently liked the technique of crushing bones, and as an actor he mastered this in films where he is braking bones one by one (the cut below is a clear example). In this respect, too, he differed considerably from other action stars of his time.

Huge success in Eastern Europe

He began his film career in 1988 with his debut Nico, directed by Andrew Davis. Seagal joined forces with him 4 years later in his perhaps best film Under Siege, which was  nominated for an Oscar. Prior to that, he starred in successful action films such as Hard to Kill (1990), Marked for Death (1990) and Out for Justice (1991).

"His films were shown in cinemas in the beginning. They were relatively successful. However, Seagal's films were mostly bought on VHS, especially in the Eastern bloc. In the 1990s, he made a few decent films, but his biggest hit is undoubtedly Under Siege, " said Pavlík.

Interestingly, Seagal was more popular in Europe, so they put him on a poster of Executive Decision (1996), even though he played only a very small role in the film. Only Kurt Russell was on the posters in the US. "People in our region were mad with anger, and when they found out that they had killed him quickly in the film, they left the cinema in anger," Pavlík describes with laughter the outrage of the people. The Eastern Bloc was initially charmed by Seagal because we have not seen similar films at the time. Seagal was attractively exotic.

He had to pay the mafia hundreds of thousands of dollars

As a huge success with the audience at first, the industry trusted him enough to get enough budget and freedom to make his directorial debut On Deadly Ground (1994). In the end, however, the film was a failure and Seagal never sat in the director's chair again. Similarly, the second part of the Under Siege (Under Siege 2: Dark territory 1995 ) was not a great success with his audience.

"On Deadly Ground and Under Siege 2: Dark territory had big budgets, but they were weak movies. In addition, Seagal became increasingly problematic during this period. He made a few more movies that were shown in theatres, and then went almost exclusively to VHS. He had a small comeback in 1996 with Glimmer Man and in 2001 with the Exit Wounds. These were still solid films. And then he was practically finished." says Pavlík.

However, at the turn of the millennium, he had problems not only due to his declining career, but also due to disputes with the mafia. At the time, he suddenly realized that it was not right for him to act in violent films, where he constantly killed people.

His newly acquired Buddhist faith simply did not allow him to do so, according to The Independent. However, this angered businessman Julius Nass, who had long co-financed his films. And since Nasso was linked to the Gambino crime family, Seagal got into trouble, writes The New York Times.

The businessman tried to blackmail Seagal through gangsters. The actor later testified against the mobsters in court. He claimed to have given them several hundred thousand dollars because they allegedly threatened to kill him. Julius Nass was eventually sentenced to one year in prison for blackmail.

He boasted that he was dating underage girls

Steven Seagal has pretty much disappeared from the mainstream over the past 20 years. He managed to get a smaller role in the film in the bloody Machete (2010) and he could also play in the action series Expendables, but due to his bad relations with the producer, he was left out. Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren did not have such a problem and played larger or smaller roles in the film. However, Seagal's return to the scene has not taken place to this day, and according to Pavlík, he is completely excluded, for which  his own behaviour is largely responsible.

During the filming of the second Under Siege, Seagal allegedly harassed then only 16-year-old actress Katherine Heigl. At the end of filming, he even confessed to her about his relationships with underage girls. Heigl said he said that "he has girlfriends her age." When Heigl asked him if it was not illegal, Seagal allegedly replied that "they don't seem to mind," the actress revealed on Jimmy Kimmel. During the promo for the second part of Under Siege, he grabbed 16-year-old Heigl's breasts, which a photographer managed to capture.

He allegedly imprisoned a former assistant and attacked an actor

In the same year, he allegedly harassed former playmate Jenny McCarthy, who he asked to undress in front of him during the casting of the film, writes CBS News. According to McCarthy, she cried, scolded the actor and ran away. He later reportedly threatened her, so she would not tell anyone.

In the past, he was accused of triple sexual assault by his ex-assistant Kayden Nguyen, who said he had held in a house for 6 days and later chased her with a gun. However, Seagal's lawyer denied this, stating that the actor had to let Nguyen go for alleged drug use.

The cases of alleged sexual harassment has accumulated over the years. Some came with the outbreak of the #metoo movement in 2017, when actress Portia de Rossi wrote about her experience with Seagal on Twitter. She claimed that he had unzipped his pants in front of her during a private casting in the office. Portia de Rossi rejected his unspoken offer and left.

My final audition for a Steven Segal movie took place in his office. He told me how important it was to have chemistry off-screen as he sat me down and unzipped his leather pants. I️ ran out and called my agent. Unfazed, she replied, “well, I didn’t know if he was your type.”

— Portia de Rossi (@portiaderossi) November 8, 2017

However, Steven Seagal had a bad reputation not only for the alleged sexual harassment of women, but also for his rudeness towards members of the staff.  Filming with Seagal was not as easy. Actor John Leguizamo revealed about Seagal that during the production of Executive Decision,  he could not control his emotions and during one minor dispute he caught him and slammed him against the wall.

He supported the annexation of Crimea and spread conspiracies about the war in Ukraine

Steven Seagal is known for his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said in an interview with the pro-Kremlin medium Rossiskaya Gazeta in 2014 that he supports the occupation of the Crimean peninsula, writes Belfast Telegraph, referring to Gazeta.

Seagal, who has had Russian citizenship since 2016 claimed, that Putin wanted to protect Russian-speaking citizens. He holds the President of the Russian Federation in high esteem, calling him to be one of the world's greatest leaders of all time. He also said that he was his friend and would like to call him brother. He also showed his loyalty to Putin by joining the  Party of Fair Russia, the New York Post writes.

He was very careful when commenting on Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Like many other supporters of Vladimir Putin, he was careful not to criticise the president and preferred to stick to conspiracies. According to The Independent, he blamed someone on the outside, who allegedly invested a huge amount of money in propaganda and provoked the war between Ukraine and Russia. Again, he only took on the Kremlin propaganda narrative.