Hmmmm, did the FBI force him to make ON DEADLY GROUND? Because I'm pretty sure that is what really killed his career.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/...0,5557008.story

i think Steven Seagal ruined Seagal's career.

What does it take to change the essence of a man...

Anyone who has seen Seagal's fat, lazy performances in which he doesn't even bother to do his own ADR knows who is to blame for Seagal's sagging film career.

Seagal's career has been on the downslope for much longer then five years. Since oh, about 1998 or so, I'd reckon.

I still think someone very brave and with the constitution of an Otto Preminger needs to cast Seagal and Wesley Snipes in a low budget buddy action film. Imagine the results!

And call it CLASH OF THE EGOS.

Said it once, and I'll say it... oncer: feed 'em to Ferrara.

Australian director Bruce Beresford's recent gossipy book about his recent years in Hollywood (I think it's only come out down here in Australia so far, as I don't see it listed on either of the main Amazon sites) has a fun Seagal anecdote, where he goes to Seagal's house for a meeting and the fat, out-of-shape action star is still waited on hand-and-foot by dozens of sultry Asian babes who all call him 'master', and Beresford (something of a rake himself if you've read the various Clive James autobiographies that feature Beresford in a running gag as a side character sleeping with dozens of miniskirted babes of Sydney and London) wonders what hot action goes on when visiting Australian directors aren't present. Beresford's book is a hoot and features a lot of similar stuff about various other celebs, and also a thoughtful running diary of the movies Beresford - still a big film fan himself - has watched each week. Seagal briefly comes across in the book as something of a sorry figure, though how sorry you can be for a guy that has his own harem of babes from Tokyo is an open question.

"*snif*...*snif*...I want to change"

The FBI obviously targeted Seagal because he used to work for the CIA (cough), and it was a turf war/inter-agency thing.

Or something.

Seagal was clearly a man ahead of his time. If they made ON DEADLY GROUND today, Leonardo di Caprio would star and Angelina Jolie would play Joan Chen's part and someone like Sean Penn, Tim Robbins or Martin Sheen would take the Michael Caine villain role. (Of course there'd be no room in the cast for R. Lee Ermey.) Global warming would be worked into it--there'll be a spectacular scene of a glacier collapsing into the ocean and Leonardo and Angelina leaping off of it just in time with an orphaned baby polar bear in their arms and catching the ladder of a waiting helicopter. As the copter flies away, Leo looks down at the water swirling and mutters, "It's those damned SUV's!" Leo would start the final speech at the end and then introduce Al Gore who keeps it going for another hour. And then they'd all show up and make the rounds of the talk shows and film festivals to promote the film. Quite a change from when they opened the original 13 years ago without any critics' screenings. :P

It sounds funny, but Seagal's ON DEADLY GROUND condemnation of Big Business’ soiling of the environment and preaching the virtues of alternative energy, which was highly jeered at the time...well, dammit if he wasn't right. I think he was ahead of his time in this regard.

Doesn't Al Gore's Oscar winning DVD acknowledge On Deadly Ground in the closing credits as the thing that inspired him to enhance his bank balance (sorry - save the planet).

Wasn't The Patriot another environmental classic?

I actually had (have?) the LD of On Deadly Ground. How many carbon credits do you think I can get for it?

Yes - but did the environmental awareness the film created offset all of the carbon emissions caused by the numerous explosions.

To say nothing of the greenhouse gasses emitted by Seagal on a daily basis.

I'd say Boston Market was more to blame for Segal's career going pear-shaped than anything else.