Despite a controversial life and domineering personality that have given him a reputation for being incredibly difficult to work with, Steven Seagal‘s acting career has been going strong for almost 40 consecutive years. Regardless of the criticism of his recent output as derivative and without his signature flair and energy, Seagal isn’t slowing down, but seems to be enjoying his action hero status.
Beneath the tough exterior, Seagal is quick to emphasize his soft side in the form of his favorite causes, Tibetan independence, environmentalism and his Buddhist faith. Being a positive role model, in body and mind, was not a superficial thing for Seagal. 1996 was the turning point in his career and it almost marked the end of it. True to his core beliefs, in what was the biggest film of his career to date, Seagal rewrote the script to accommodate his budding Buddhist faith. No seriously. The man who makes a living breaking boys’ bones and impaling gangsters with billiard cues didn’t want to be associated with aggression. That was quite a problem for everyone involved in the movie, since the movie was an action movie about a deranged serial killer and a no-nonsense cop.
The way of Zen is ungrateful and punitive, especially when you get paid to kick people in the windpipe until they gargle blood. Following the path of the Buddha requires a discipline few possess. You only live once unless you’re Steven Seagal.
A man of principles
Steamroller Productions
20th Century Fox
Seagal has, shall we say, a unique relationship with writers and directors. He forced the Saturday Night Live writers room to give him a sketch where he could talk about the environment and get stuntmen to beat up, making the cast and audience so confused that he was banished forever. He refused to detach himself from the roles he played, similar to Andy Kaufman or Andrew Dice Clay. While this has served him well, he landed gigs as ex-special forces and avenging detectives Under siege, Hard to kill And Out for justiceit has also created some dissonance with its Buddhist religion.
When it came to filming The glimmerman, Seagal was so committed to his political and philosophical stance against “introducing violence into this world” that he took it upon himself to set the misguided movie on the right track and discourage movie violence. Which he did without consulting the director, writer or producers. He was on a mission from above for the good of humanity. “What I do in this life only matters if I can alleviate the suffering of others,” Seagal once said (via The protector). “If I can somehow make the world a better place, if I can somehow serve Buddha and humanity, if I can somehow plant the seed of bodhicitta (spiritual awakening) in can plant men’s hearts.” Being the most billed actor, no one had the guts to fire or challenge him.
Disaster loomed and the crew maneuvered behind his back to solve the problem. Thinking outside the box, the director John Gray had to tell his villain, actor Stephen Tobolowsky, to secretly convince Seagal to let him kill him in the dramatic scene. The plan worked, but only temporarily. Seagal then changed his mind and changed all subsequent dialogue to insinuate that he had not killed Tobolowsky’s character, which in turn forced Tobolowsky to dub lines that would show he had not been killed off. Hollywood writers were but a small concern to a man beyond mortal understanding of justice. Seagal triumphed over evil to maintain ahimsa, non-violence against all sentient beings, be they puppies or serial killers.
Blame the Dalai Lama
The movie star, who has been practicing Buddhism for a long time, sought a deeper meaning in his life and tried to follow the example of the masters who preceded him. An example of such a man who lived the ultimate truth was the Dalai Lama, who was banished from his homeland because of his faith. And it was this devotion to the teachings of Buddhism that most threatened Seagal’s career. No one wanted to hear him preach about pollution or sing about inner harmony, any more than they wanted to hear Chuck Norris perform at a poetry slam, but Seagal was in a position to enforce his will. He made an effort. At the peak of his career, he was perhaps as big of a draw in the action genre as anyone but Arnold Schwarzenegger. But would he ever be cast as a peacenik in another big movie again?
He earned the respect of the Tibetan Buddhist community and met the Dalai Lama. In this confluence of minds, the movie star ascended to what is essentially a form of sanctity. His spirituality was so high at the time that Seagal was proclaimed the reincarnation of a holy man from the 17th century. “Seagal had his own vision to have some deeper knowledge in the dharma,” says the chief of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism told reporters in 1997praise the Michigan resident.
A riddle wrapped in a riddle
Accusations of being difficult followed him throughout his career, from his infamous stint as a host Saturday Night Live to his improvised scene Leave wounds where the gravel-voiced Akido expert accidentally ended his big, unplanned dramatic exit by plunging into the ocean. Seagal’s tenuous working relationship with directors, writers, and fellow actors has always been fraught with problems, and that refusal to conform has resulted in him making some strange enemies and even more bizarre friends along the way.
His total conversion to non-violence did not last, that much is clear. Tobolowsky’s ADRed line was eventually dropped, the film narrowly saved in post-production despite Seagal’s creative input. In short order, the tension of pacifism was over and Seagal returned to boost his cinematic body count. If he had really stuck to his guns, no pun intended, his career would be dead instead of the bad guys.
That strategic decision was undoubtedly the right one. Since his near-career derailing lighting on the set of The glimmermanSeagal has shot more than one movie a year on average and has an appearance in one advertisement for a Russian weapon company, despite having trouble reloading and holding firearms correctly and seeming much more dexterous with his fists. Why? Nobody really knows. Seagal is his own Zen enigma, an individual who defies any kind of logical explanation. One thing remains very clear: non-violence may be good for the soul, but not so much for the wallet.