The actor who despised every moment of working with Steven Seagal: “He was a dickhead”
Is there a single actor in Hollywood who’s more unpopular than Steven Seagal? Based on the number of people, whether they’ve worked with him or not, to have blasted the martial artist and action star in public, probably not.
Seagal has made more than 50 films since debuting in 1988’s Above the Law, and it’s tricky trying to find anyone with anything positive to say about him. On the other hand, people have been coming out of the woodwork for decades to make it abundantly clear that they can’t stand him.
John Leguizamo? Based his character on The Menu on Seagal because he was playing a washed-up actor, and he couldn’t think of a more perfect inspiration than someone he despises. Liam Neeson? Hates him. Sylvester Stallone? Hates him. Bob Odenkirk? Hates him. Brian Cox? Hates him. Clearly, there’s a pattern.
Charlize Theron? She’s never come close to making a movie with Seagal, and she hates him, too. Gene LeBell? He’s not even an actor, but he allegedly placed him in a chokehold so severe that he shit his pants before joining Bob Wall’s ‘Dirty Dozen’, a collective of 12 martial artists and fighters who made it their mission to beat him to a bloody pulp.
DMX? Only a part-time thespian, but saw enough to brand Seagal as “a shithead with spray-on hair.” Does anyone in Hollywood actually like the guy? Looking at the evidence, absolutely not. What about wholesome veteran character actors who’ve shared a set with some of cinema’s biggest stars and have theoretically been exposed to all sorts of errant behaviour? Nope, at least in Troy Evans’ case.
He’s been in Jim Carrey’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Sylvester Stallone’s Demolition Man, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Stephen King’s The Stand, Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia, and countless more, giving him plenty of insight into the industry’s highest-profile names and creatives with a penchant for eccentricity and disruptiveness.
And yet, the undoubted low point of his career came when he played the role of Granger in Andrew Davis’ Under Siege, which might be the only half-decent flick Seagal has ever made. Not that Evans cared, though, because his disdain for the leading man meant that he had no interest in ever watching the end result.
“I’m not a fan of Steven Seagal,” he plainly told The AV Club. “He’s not a nice man. At all. We got through that, we made the movie, but I would never watch it. And I don’t have any fond memories about it. He was a dickhead. I mean, we’re out in the middle of nowhere in Georgia, and a guy would have to come over and open a special case and unfold this leather and give him a little Beretta, and he’d slide the Beretta behind his belt and his pants before he’d even walk onto the set. That’s Steven.”
Of course, Evans is far from the first – or last – co-star to speak ill of Seagal, but he’s definitely one of the few who hated the experience so much that he made a point of never revisiting the picture they made together.
