The 80s in Hollywood was the era wherein filmmakers gave muscular guys limited dialogues and let their hands and bodies do the talking instead. Accordingly, the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Steven Seagal became everyone’s first choice for their story’s leading man.
While Schwarzenegger and Stallone successfully adapted and remained in demand, Seagal faded from prominence for reasons that weren’t limited to just what he brought to the table. The 71-year-old has been the subject of multiple sexual assault and misconduct accusations.
Further, if Sharon Stone is to be believed, he wasn’t the most comfortable co-star to interact with on or off the set either. In that regard, she shared one hilarious encounter between Seagal and Schwarzenegger’s body double, Sven-Ole Thorsen.
How Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Body Double Showed Steven Seagal His Place
Sharon Stone starred opposite Steven Seagal in the 1988 action thriller, Above the Law. The actress portrays Sara Toscani, the wife of Seagal’s Nico Toscani, who goes against the higher officials to uncover the mysteries of a harmful smuggling trade.
The Andrew Davis-directed movie is considered one of Seagal’s best works to date. It also enjoyed success at the box office, garnering $18.8 million against a budget of $7.5 million.
However, it seems Stone didn’t have a very good experience working with Seagal. A decade later she told Movieline magazine (via PEOPLE), her Above the Law co-star “isn’t worth the ink it would take to write about him.”
Decades later it seems her feelings about the controversial star remain the same, as during an appearance on LadyGang podcast she shared a story involving Seagal when asked how she handles someone who is an a-shole in Hollywood.
“This reminds me of when we were in Cannes,” she recalled. “We had Total Recall there and Steven Seagal who I’d been in this movie with. I was trying to talk to him about this scene and he told me I was standing in his Chi and I was like, ‘You know I’m unfamiliar with that. How big is your Chi?’ I didn’t know what the hell was happening.”
She then went on to reveal how amusingly Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body double, Sven-Ole Thorsen, dealt with Seagal, stating:
“Anyway, so I was talking to Sven. Sven was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body double and Steven Seagal came walking up. He’s like ‘So what are you guys doing?’ Sven goes, ‘We were just talking about what an a-shole you are?'”
Stone most probably got acquainted with Thorsen while working with Schwarzenegger in Total Recall in 1990. Regardless of where they met, Thorsen certainly knows how to leave a good impression on his colleagues and how to handle an ‘a-shole’.
What Happened Between Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme
Seagal didn’t just get on the wrong foot of Stone and Thorsen. He supposedly also kick-started a feud with Jean-Claude Van Damme, another super-buff action hero from the 80s, during the same period.
The conflict started when Seagal, who is a 7th dan black belt in Aikido, raised doubts about martial artist and actor Van Damme’s legitimate fighting credentials. The issue reportedly (via PEOPLE) escalated in a Sylvester Stallone-hosted party in 1997, leading to Van Damme challenging Seagal to a fight.
However, the Bloodsport star, now 63, is past all that aggression and has claimed he doesn’t have any problem with Seagal anymore.
