Steven Seagal’s Mysterious 41-Minute Cameo: Did the Martial Arts Legend Disappear on Purpose or Was It Cosmic Karma?
Added on July 27, 2025 inEntertainment News Cards, Movie News Cards
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Ever wonder how a movie star’s cosmic alignment might affect their screen time? Well, today’s tidbit just might shed some starlit truth on that. Andrew Davis’ action-packed thriller, Under Siege, usually hailed as Steven Seagal’s magnum opus (and, honestly, his last really solid flick), harbors a behind-the-scenes twist that’s as intriguing as a Mercury retrograde surprise. You’d think a big-name star like Seagal would rule the screen, right? Nope. Turns out, Tommy Lee Jones, cast as the charmingly nasty Strannix, was given more shining moments — nearly stealing the show with only 41 minutes of Seagal’s reluctant stare-down time. Talk about celestial drama! Jones even jazzed up his originally “flat” villain to a rock-n-roll swagger, proving sometimes the universe throws in a plot twist bigger than a lunar eclipse. And despite Seagal’s limited presence, his knife fight with Jones earned nods from martial arts legends themselves. So, ready to dive deeper into this Hollywood constellation where star power sometimes eclipses star time? LEARN MORE.
Andrew Davis’ Under Siege is usually considered Steven Seagal’s best movie (and also his last good film – as explained HERE). However, at the time, most critics singled out Tommy Lee Jones’s performance as the baddie, Strannix, as a scene-stealer. According to Nick de Semlyen’s new book, “Last Action Heroes”, Jones dominating the film was intentional, as Seagal was somewhat reluctant to sign onto the movie. To help entice the star, his screen time was kept to only about 41 minutes. As Davis tells de Semlyen, “Between the Pentagon stuff and all the other cutaways, Tommy is actually in the movie more than Steven.”
According to Davis, Jones took the lead in reworking his bad guy, who he remembers was “flat” and “boring” in the original script. “Tommy said, ‘Why can’t I be a rock n’roll kinda guy? It was a little weird, but Tommy made it work.” Indeed, Jones’s performance would elevate his career, and just a year later, he would reread with Davis on The Fugitive, a movie that earned him a best supporting actor Oscar.
While Seagal’s screen time may have been limited, his contributions to the action scenes were still highly praised at the time, with Seagal mentioning that Dan Inosanto, the famed martial artist renowned for battling Bruce Lee in Game of Death, approached him at Brandon Lee’s funeral to praised the knife fight between him and Jones. The movie became Steven Seagal’s biggest hit ever, grossing $83 million domestically and $156 million worldwide. The sequel, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, would be made without Davis and would only gross $50 million domestically, although it did better business overseas, earning $104 million worldwide. Recently, WB was talking about doing a reboot. We also recently interviewed Mr. Davis to celebrate the 30th anniversary of perhaps his greatest movie, The Fugitive!
If you want more cool stories about all the 80s and 90s action icons we grew up with, pick up de Semlyan’s book. Buy it here!
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