Morris Chestnut Once Called out Steven Seagal for Not Holding Back in Fight Scenes
Actor and action star Steven Seagal has been known to go a little too far when it comes to fighting scenes in movies. Boyz N The Hood alum Morris Chestnut took notice of this when they worked together and called Seagal out on it.
Michael Jai White once shared how stuntmen reacted to Steven Seagal striking them
Michael Jai White is known for starring in several hit action movies. So being an action star and an expert martial artist himself, the actor is familiar with the work of stuntmen in these kinds of films. Speaking to DJ Vlad, White revealed that it was rare for stuntmen to be intentionally struck by actors during fight scenes. But the Hard to Kill star was one performer who White claimed was an exception.
“Steven Seagal hits the s*** out of people, that’s a unique situation,” White said.
White did three film projects alongside Seagal, so he saw how Seagal worked with stuntmen firsthand. But the Spawn star revealed that some stuntmen wouldn’t make an issue out of Seagal’s behavior.
“They’d try to deal with it because they’re stuntmen. And so, there’s a certain ethic where you try to grin and bear it,” he said. “One of the movies I did with him, Steven Seagal was the director of On Deadly Ground. And he was laying into people. So, what are you gonna do? You gonna complain to the director that the director’s hitting you? So, there’s a certain line where people go, ‘Ok, that’s my badge of honor, I’m tough. I can take it.”
Morris Chestnut once called out Steven Seagal for tagging stuntmen
Chestnut is another actor who’s collaborated with Seagal. The two worked together in the 1995 film Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, where Chestnut was able to see how Seagal worked. The Best Man actor would soon take issue with the way Seagal treated his stuntmen.
“He doesn’t hold back. I was talking to one of my stunt coordinators for V the other day. He doesn’t hold back and he really goes at it with the people he’s fighting against, which is wrong,” Chestnut once told Sister 2 Sister(via Contact Music). “You’re not supposed to do that.”
However, Chestnut believed that he wasn’t confronted about his physicality because of his celebrity status.
“What happens is when he’s on the set he’s the star of the movie. So, if you’re a stunt man trying to make a living, you’re really not going to complain because, number one, you’re working, and two, you’re working on a Steven Seagal movie,” he said. “So that kind of helps you get your next job. (But) he really would go after those stunt cats.”
Charlize Theron once questioned Steven Seagal’s martial arts background
Mad Max Fury star Charlize Theron is another actor who took issues with Seagal. Speaking on The Howard Stern Show (via People), Theron didn’t mince words when it came to her feelings about Seagal.
“I have no problem talking s*** about him because he’s not very nice to women so f*** you,” she said.
She proved this while criticizing the actor’s fighting skills. Although some see Seagal as a credible martial artist because of his background, Theron thought otherwise.
“At night I’ll go online to watch fighters or watch people fight and you always come across that odd Seagal video of him ‘fighting’ in Japan, but he really isn’t,” she said. “He’s just incredibly overweight and pushing people. He’s overweight and can barely fight … look it up, it’s ridiculous. He’s shoving people by the face. It’s a whole setup.”
