yeah like lethal weapon. I counted at least five people that are in action jackson too. Like the guy who dies in the start of the film. Hes the buyer from lethal weapon. Joel Silver rules
I'm telling you there is gold to be found in this movie! I almost laughed my ass off when I spotted Cooke(Bill Duke) from Commando in this just to find out that moments later Henriques(!) is in it too... F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C!
I recently found similarities like these between the Steven Seagal film Above the Law and Chuck Norris' Code of Silence. Both share the same director, shooting location, main villain (Henry Silva) and about 8 other cast members.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever."
Keeping with the similiar cast thing, since you brought up Aliens, three of its stars (Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, and Jennette Goldstein) are in Kathryn Bigelow's vampire flick, "Near Dark".
Wasn't David Glen Eisley also in Diehard? It's been a while since I have seen both but remember him being one of the bad guys in the skyscraper. David Glen Eisley was the lead singer of the 80's band Giuffria.
Obviously Silver pictures gave roles to the same people often and filmmakers often recast the same talent, as in Cameron's use of Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, and Jeanette Goldstein. Also Steve Kahan is heavily used by Richard Donner. I first noticed him as a cop in Superman:The Movie, he dies following Ned Beatty into the subway. You might know him better as Captain Ed Murphy in the Lethal Weapon films but Donner has cast him often.
I do realize that between Die Hard and Action Jackson there were several performers very visible. Citing Al Leong though is just silly, that guy has been in more action films during that period...second only to James Lew perhaps, see them fight in Big Trouble In Little China! One of the many reasons that it is a great film.
"Also Steve Kahan is heavily used by Richard Donner. I first noticed him as a cop in Superman:The Movie, he dies following Ned Beatty into the subway. You might know him better as Captain Ed Murphy in the Lethal Weapon films but Donner has cast him often."
Steve could actually been cast via nepotism too...he's Dick Donner's cousin. Oh, slight nitpick, Steve didnt die in Superman, that was his partner "Harry" who got runned over by Amtrak.
Silver Pictures was on a role with these guys in the 80s though. The first time I saw either Die Hard or Action Jackson as a kid I used to think these guys were all just mercs for hire shifting from each film.
"You win some, you lose some. But you live, you live to fight another day."
"The first time I saw either Die Hard or Action Jackson as a kid I used to think these guys were all just mercs for hire shifting from each film."
That's pretty much what they were: "acting" mercs who took any decent paying job in an action movie.
It didn't hurt to be on Dick Donner's buddy list if you were an action movie acting regular in the 1980's...they were like the action movie brat pack....although slightly less rich and famous.
There was a lot of actor sharing between Alien, Aliens, Terminator, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Action Jackson, Predator, Predator 2, Lethal Weapon 2, Commando, Terminator 2 and The Abyss. For instance:
Vasquez from Aliens was in Lethal Weapon 2 and Terminator 2. Hudson from Aliens was in Predator 2, Commando and Terminator. Hicks from Aliens was in Terminator and The Abyss.
Ginger's boyfriend in Terminator was in Navy Seals along with Hicks and Hudson, who also all appeared in The Lords of Discipline.
Bishop from Aliens was in Terminator, as well as a vampire movie with Hudson and Vasquez.
The black guy that escorts Arnie on the plane in Commando was in Action Jackson. Billy from Predator was in Action Jackson. Dillon from Predator was in Action Jackson. Mack from Predator was in Action Jackson. The SWAT "send in the car" guy from Die Hard was in Action Jackson and Commando.
Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon films was in Predator 2. The commanding officer from the Lethal Weapon films was in Predator 2. The white Agent Johnson from Die Hard was in Action Jackson. The black Agent Johnson was in Lethal Weapon 2. Joshua from Lethal Weapon was in Predator 2.
The department psychologist from all 4 Lethal Weapons was a reporter in Die Hard and died in the beginning of Action Jackson. The guy who died with her at the beginning of Action Jackson was a drug dealer in Lethal Weapon. Arnie from Predator was in Terminator and Terminator 2.
Endo from Lethal Weapon was in Die Hard and Action Jackson. The Die Hard terrorist that looks like Huey Lewis was one of the bad guys in Action Jackson, and the black guy on the bad guy team was one of the soldiers that died protecting Arnie in Commando.
A truly golden age of cinema. I'm sure I'm missing some in there, like Sven Thorsen, whose been in a ton of Arnie movies.
This is nothing surprising. In the 80's the same B, C, and even D list actors were everywhere and got plenty of work; it seemed like Hollywood pretty had the same small stable of actors for the Action and Drama genres, so you saw them pop up in everything with each other. For this reason, a lot of actors in the 80's who weren't A list also did just as much TV work as they did Film/Movie work.
Yeah there was a lot of action-sharing between Action Jackson, Lethal Weapon 1 & 2, Die Hard, Commando, Predator, Predator 2, Aliens, Terminator & T2, Red Heat, 48 Hours, Extreme Prejudice, and some other action movies.