Original subtitles

foreign

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

oh

[Music]

hi

i'm documentary filmmaker richard orchid

during the late 1980s one creative force

in hollywood

changed the way people saw action

especially martial arts cinema

francis alan sledrick

known as frank sledge to his millions of

fans worldwide

rewrote the book

creating a whole new chapter

in martial arts for an entire generation

now most of us know frank for his

signature martial arts moves

and his dynamic action sequences

and most of us know frank as an actor

instead of as a real person

well i wanted to find that real person

and to find out what had motivated him

to become the vital force that he is

today

i wanted to get his reflections on his

extremely influential career

well i got all that

and i got a whole lot more

this is sledge

[Music]

frank sledge is huge he's the the

biggest sexiest hottest action star on

the planet

[Applause]

frank's the man frank is

the number one everything on this planet

right now as far as show business goes

i'm so proud of him

honored to have worked with him

he's incredible

it was back in the summer of 1985 when i

saw my first trailer for the frank

sledge movie

blood by two

it is a memory that is etched in my mind

forever

thank you for coming to my island for

this momentous occasion

you are the top vipers in the world

some of you may

die

let the games

begin

work out what it takes to be a champion

[Music]

blood fight 2 made frank a star

but his career began much earlier in the

small town of sheboygan falls wisconsin

under the watchful eye of his childhood

dance instructor samantha jones let me

tell you about the first time i i ever

met frank

francis

[Music]

his mom and dad brought him here to me

[Music]

actually

left him here with me

[Music]

he came in with a perfect turnout

i'd never seen anything like it i think

his mom and dad thought he was just

bow-legged but actually he always had a

lot between his legs even when he was a

little boy

he was really wonderful even as a child

[Music]

nothing else

[Music]

in no time frank became samantha's star

student headlining in over 50

productions including the lead in his

senior class musical

frank was becoming quite a hometown

celebrity and as his talent grew so did

his ambition at 18 he landed a spot with

a famous traveling dance troupe that

took him to a land where dreams come

true

[Music]

yes frank wasn't an actor i mean i met

him in a club

it was a dance club but his dancing

ability was phenomenal so i knew you

know making movies by watching him he

could handle any kind of fight scene or

action that we threw at him i mean

movement's movement right

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

dancing

[Music]

[Applause]

[Applause]

[Music]

half the battle in this business is

marketing frank's on stage charisma

night after night that left no doubt in

my mind that he could move an audience

i mean i knew back then he had what it

take to be a star but

you know the name would have to change i

couldn't put francis sledgewick on a box

and expect anyone to buy that are you

kidding me i can't sell that

who's frank sludge anyway he's a nobody

why would i want a nobody in my film

what about daniel bernard

john i told you bernhard's not available

all right we've been over this

i'm not doing it look it's got kung fu

in it you people love that stuff my

people

i don't get it why is it just because

i'm jewish you assume i love kung fu how

many jews do you know that love kung fu

come on john i didn't mean it like what

difference does it make what kind of

martial arts the hebrews do i'm just

saying i thought we were a team here i

mean couldn't students consult us on

this we've made a lot of concessions

already well we already got a poster

mated we're writing this cheesy

copy look we are a team i'm not trying

to cut you out of the loop but i got to

get some stuff done some decisions have

to be made it doesn't matter okay the

point is how are we supposed to justify

a brand new actor playing the same

character in the sequel to a movie that

we have already produced

it doesn't make any sense russell

christ

look at you

you look like a completely different

person

i know it may be hard to trust me

considering the extensive facial

reconstructive surgery you went through

after the last blood fight we sent you

on

but that doesn't change the fact that

you're the one person

that can save your brother

now go to tang's compound

defend your honor serve your country

save your brother

look different

but be the same

good luck son

frank's a dancer

that's my first problem

at least bernhardt was an actor and a

fighter frank's a dancer

and a dancer limited on grace really

action

cut

action yes yes

can you not see through that i can't i

have pop you can see all right i'm sorry

i'm sorry

i'm sorry next time you hit him when he

lets his guard down hit him harder

frank was hired because he was supposed

to be physically able to to handle the

action he's not a great actor

or even an actor at all

unfortunately he wasn't able to handle

most of the action sequences either

they they tried using a stunt double but

i guess that didn't work out too well

either

and

action

oh god

medic focus and just release nice

smoothies

maybe a green suit and we could i could

help him you know i could i could be

back here in a green suit and then in

post you could take me out production

was in a financial crunch they couldn't

afford another stunt double if they

didn't finish this movie the studio was

going to be out tens of thousands of

dollars

frank

going to have to do his own stuff

a breakaway vase is is uh traditionally

it's a 0.3 millimeters uh those those

are 18 millimeters thick

so uh they're about

46 times thicker than

what you would like ideally with this

next scene i just want to address any

concerns you may have and then tell you

about my concerns are there any concerns

you have

i have few concerns the shot has to be

pots breaking do you understand if you

don't get it right in two takes you're

gonna be breaking air

and that's similar to breaking wind

that's worthless to me

what what do we do now i mean i i

i can solve that

and

action

[Music]

cuts

wrong with you guys you're supposed to

go hit the right one first dyslexic

frank frank

you go

pow how

spinny things pow

it doesn't do me any good to have asian

master come up and break pots while

you're watching

the acting was new to me as well

and in some ways a lot more challenging

than the action but i think i did a good

job for my first time out

we only did one

right i'm good i'm getting i don't

really have any lines

yeah working with frank required a real

sort of dynamic reworking of the

dialogue

based got to cut all of his lines

i think with the exception of arnold

he's probably got the record for the

lead character with the least amount of

lines

you know with the exclusion of the

non-talkies you know buster keeping

harper marks

frank didn't catch on quite as fast as

we'd hoped to the acting either but at

least we could always depend on his raw

natural talents

you know why does it have to be like

full naked ass i mean

what do you want to stock strap ass what

else can you wear the shoes i mean

hey in chip and nails we show a lot of

ass we don't always take it all off okay

people get pretty aroused by just me

in an underwear in a tight thong type

you

and you do look good in underwear i

understand that but it's common practice

to get the ash shot the male ash shot is

what sells in the foreign market

oh this sells

that's it

[Applause]

[Music]

so you are really gonna go

this isn't about your brother

it's about you

he's gone

dead

and the company is just messing with

your head to get their mission

accomplished

and if you go to that damn island

you'll end up dead too

come on the guy's a dancer

okay

i mean he's not gonna win an academy

award here

and um

you know whereas you know i probably

will come back to me

come back to me

you know i'm i'm a serious actor and

frank is

you know kind of

a joke

i love you

i

i used to get a letter from him every

single day and i had little kisses and

hearts and little hugs

and it always said that he

he just didn't feel like he was doing

well enough he would work really really

hard and

and just not everybody loved him and not

everybody thought he was great he always

wanted to please everybody and i just

would say to him francis

you can't please everybody not

everybody's going to love you

but your friends

they will always love you

i'm sorry russell you know it gave me

this chance and i feel like i'm messing

up you know what

just don't think about it now we'll just

get through the scene and you know we'll

move on don't don't worry so much

all right john's yelling all the time

hey

so glad you're here me too it's

wonderful you look great thank you do

you know russell when i moved to la i

met glenn he was the choreographer for

chippendales

and he took me under his wing and we've

been inseparable ever since he

choreographed my first

one-man show on venice beach street

dance yes yes uh it was so much fun that

was great it was kind of like dance

through the ages dance for the ages yeah

all different disco yes hip-hop medieval

medieval that that's that was wild yeah

with all the army it's great finally

meeting you you know the way frank talks

about you i really love you i love

friend too he's a great guy

i'm hoping you might be able to help me

out with something

it just seems to me his he's off you

know his fights he's missing punches his

reactions aren't quite there he's late i

mean i've seen him perform i know how

good he is

it just feels like there's there's

something missing you know he seems off

hmm i'm quite shocked by that i mean yes

frank can be a little blocked at times

but

he's never not on the beat frank is

always on the beat and um

i'm assuming you guys are giving him the

proper counts and everything counts what

do you mean counts counts rhythm the

beat frank is a dancer and a dancer

dances one two three be there you know

what i'm saying frank needs to hear the

music if he hears the music then he'll

sparkle

i'm basically

frank's metronome for life

you know

i help him feel the beat count the pulse

sing the body electric

he just needs me around you know

just needs me around to

help him out with those kind of things

and now i'm here to show him show frank

that

the action

is just like the dance

it's just like the dance

five six seven eight and one two three

four five six seven and eight and two

two three four five six seven and

one

things changed i mean we saw a

transformation in frank

that confidence that he was lacking for

a little while and uh just getting on

the set now to watch frank is is really

inspiring i go down there sometimes just

to you know watch frank v frank it's

real truly it's amazing

[Music]

and i know

[Music]

metal by fire right there that's what i

was talking about that's the movie right

there blood fight two made frank an

international star

breaking box office records in burundian

iceland

[Music]

you're the biggest

the biggest action star in the world

the cover of inside comfort

the cover of black belt

the offers were pouring in as i

understand it

how did you how did you cope with all

that

well it's not a question of uh coping i

don't think because

you know i had it all i would go back

and do fundraisers for samantha uh my

original dance instructor

for her little studio and just have a

blast

you know

friends would come in we put on a

musical and it was a great great time

and that

that was it i had it all

family friends

fame fortune it was

it was the best people wanted frank's

time and talent

obviously he wanted to explore that i

don't blame him you know did bigger

movies better offers on the table

he wanted to go that's what he had to do

and i understood

he got too big for me

my second film below the law was the

first of a three picture deal you know

there was a lot of money

a lot of power

and when you're 21

things can really go to your head

below the law new york city 1988

and marker

action

i'm on to you jackson

vinnie you have no idea who you're

dealing these people are bigger than us

oh you think you're tough with all your

hit chop suey crap

you can spend the rest of your whole

career and all you're gonna come up with

is hearsay conjecture [ __ ]

you got nothing but honey

nothing

i've got one thing

the pleasure of kicking your ass

cut

what

my bad my yo can we get something to

clean them up

yo baby how you doing baby okay you're

good it's a script said i was just

punching you at the end of that just

because the script said

script said right wait what's the punch

you frank right you know the difference

between an actor and a star

hack's a slave man he does whatever he's

told to he does whatever the script

tells him whatever the director tells

him star you're free baby you're free

all this the script director all that

[ __ ] all of this is here to serve you

are you the star of this movie yeah

right and you got to act like this

what the hell do you want

frank can i get you something to drink

no i'm fine thanks appreciate it no no

no no no um yo yo uh

you want some water what kind of water

you like

what kind of water do you want to do

water sparkling water give them a

sparkling water all right

what's your name sam say come here

did you get something

like asking for my order you idiot come

on now

standing here

what can i get you to drink a double

cappuccino latte

this mess is gone

they respect that you put them in their

place they respect you see that's how

you get things done in this town you got

to be the king i got to be the man now

baby you've been anointed all right

that's right whatever you ask for they

give you

john

[Music]

yeah i heard that frank had a little bit

of an attitude when he first started out

i was i was the other day he became

a beast

attitude you know people say a lot of

things about people in this business i

was playing a police chief and

he wanted six words had to have them

they were not scripted the problem is

nobody called it in check nobody was

able to stop it before it got out of

hand you know if a huge star asks for

coffee they should get it to them as

fast as they can you know it's that kind

of a job went from the nicest man on

there on the planet

to

you know

an actor's nightmare so we're gonna

start in tight on eric here we're gonna

pull back and i'm a loose two frank just

come in say here talk talk talk and

we're good to go

about the dialogue uh would be cool if

the chief

said something about

my character like

i'm doing all these crazy things

emotional growth yeah i mean he's over

the edge like he calls me livewire he

called me a loose cannon great say that

eric say that to him and then we'll just

come shoot him so that we just pick it

up i really don't think we have to call

him a live wire at this point he's done

so many things blown up 20 cars

children's dead i mean just want the

audience to know like yeah well i think

they will

whatever frank won

what about live wire have you had these

yeah it's really good

good livewire it's my script listen jeff

james i know right great

i read passion and

glory right it's my newspaper yes and uh

i'm thinking about making it yeah

i don't i think it's the next person

okay let me tell you something about

hollywood okay it's just works right

right sit really fast yeah live water

love water yeah of water yeah okay come

on okay

chief

want to see me

what do you think we're running here

vinny a freaking daycare it's a goddamn

police department

i got to commission him breathing down

my neck

look at this

i got three dead three injured one

broken nose one jaw one arm

two destroyed police cars

a broken barbershop window a truck full

of bottled water

you're alive i have any a loose cannon

what are you trying to pull

we have procedure here i think those

scumbags got procedure to follow

it's cause they got the commissioner on

their payroll

they think they're above the law

they may be above yours but they're not

above mine

not below it

anyway at the time uh everybody told me

i'd love to work with frank he was young

he was hungry

come and think of it

all i ever saw him do is eat

[Music]

silence is powerful

hmm so i've been sitting here in silence

looking at you each one of you engaging

you

for the last 10 minutes

why do i do that

to teach you

why are you worth teaching

i don't know

for a little over a year now i've been

training with a very famous

local acting coach

jerry moss

and he's training a lot of the big stars

right now unorthodox methods but

now i'm always finding techniques to

really hone in my craft and make me a

better actor

uh why am i an excellent teacher well

i make people see uh within themselves

and i will absolutely destroy you before

i rebuild you um

that is the cornerstone of what i do i

absolutely destroy you

and then i rebuild you in my own image

mom

mom come out from the rain hey admin

i was in the barn

it's glorious out there you're gonna

kill yourself doing all that work by

yourself i've got to work momma sid what

the [ __ ]

is this what we is it what what script

what script are you idiots using uh what

the [ __ ] do you think you're doing when

we got it no well what the [ __ ]

please patty patty would you tell me i

emailed you what emailed me the script

yes i did did i say uh it sucks in in in

my email did my email include that in

some sort of attachment or font code

i did king lear at the royal shakespeare

academy when i was 15 years old and you

are a beer yes and i wore a beard idiot

told

of course i wore a beard that was king

lear oh

your water

frank sledge

uh

has done many of the things i want him

to do uh he's had some successes which i

want him to have

um

is he there yet as an actor

i don't

that's a toughie isn't it

so i just want to

walk it through count at market like we

did earlier yeah okay okay okay

all right ready

yes very good

i wanted to add this

a signature spin yeah

no no wait wait wait wait wait wait wait

wait no no no stop

no

that is not what i want this is not

blood fight two you know what that is

that's a big waste of my time i need

more than that i need

gritty i need urban i need to treat you

man i told you no spinning like this

what do you listen to me i do have 200

movies okay come like this

like this

cake okay like a man balls come on man

remember the beep frank you're not

remembering the beats

it's just rehearsal

okay no spinning ready action

what are you doing you just hit my best

thumbnail that's it that's exactly what

i want right there

frank frank frank that is exactly what i

want oh that's perfect perfect look

let's do it just like that okay for real

you want i can sell that all right i can

do that

well i tell you

francis or frank for some of you fans

out there

he really

started acting very foolish i mean

really becoming an ass

[Music]

the most tragic thing the worst thing of

all was that he started to lose the beat

in his work

and in his life

this action hero stuff really started to

go to his head i mean he really started

to alienate people

his family his friends

he became very aggressive

[Music]

i mean it was like frank had gone crazy

or something like he was some mad rabid

dog

like he abandoned dance

and abandoned dance he did

but the longer frank was away from his

dancer friends

the more of a

meanie he became

but his fans loved it

and below the law was yet another huge

success for frank

[Music]

the heart-pounding action the

bone-crushing violence people have never

seen martial arts like this before

because this was real i mean really

really

[Music]

jiminy christmas here we are in beverly

hills

oh frank i just can't wait to meet your

agent snap dude

frank

king

he's imitating your kicks frank

crazy you always gotta you know respect

the fans the fans are your lifeblood in

this business

[Music]

i understand

i will have jack call you asap yes 4pm

absolutely hi yes i'll tell jack

immediately thank you for calling cai

[Applause]

hey dad hey frank how are you doing i'm

good i'm good how are you doing you know

i'm just kind of

sort of just

waiting by the phone you know waiting

for mr wright to call

my mother's a healer and um she has all

this sort of self-help stuff that she

like gives to me every morning

and one of the things she says is to

just visualize him

you know just the guy that you're

looking for like

a picture

him

is jack

in

in the office i can face

thanks beth no problem

oh

hey tony hey frank

um frank is here

franco

how's it going you got any gigs lined up

huh a lot

too many actually uh can you and me

i'm here to tell them to slow it down

really way too much i'm tired you know

yeah yeah busy busy busy

you know it is right no yeah me too

hey frankie the sledge meister what's

monster bubby how you doing are you

making a movie here

listen i'm sorry i mean i i i screwed up

today i i got to go do this thing i mean

it's a it's a [ __ ] thing but you

know agent's life gotta go do the thing

so you know talk to bethy and let's

reschedule for next week maybe you know

tuesday no wednesday okay okay good for

you yeah feeling good man look shredded

you look buff you know kicking ass

giving out haircuts all right i got to

go love you meet it

out for vengeance chicago 1990.

listen up people

listen up

this is a frank sledge film every one of

you are here for me

i feed your babies

this is frank sledge wardrobe

frank slash makeup

hear that it's a microphone freak's not

just speaking on it not you

if you don't like it

get out of playing you can all starve i

don't give a

sh don't want any of this fancy [ __ ]

but a real

movie

it all sort of went to frank's head but

like that's never happened in hollywood

i mean frank was only human few people

could have handled his meat

neoric rise to fame

the biggest mistake he made the saddest

thing

was that

he

pushed everybody away everybody that

really really loved him

and it's still really painful to talk

about

look

i've been meaning to tell you this for a

while

you're starting to piss everybody off

and you don't even know it

samantha is giving another musical

benefit she could really use your help

it would be a great chance for you to

get a break and to get back to what's

important frank important

glenn do you have any idea what is

important

this film is important

i'm a hollywood action star what are you

gonna understand that how do you think

you got here frank

samantha got you here chippendale's got

you here

you're a dancer frank i'm not a dancer

yes you are i am not i'm a hollywood

action star and frank sledge doesn't

need you he doesn't need dance he

doesn't need anyone

then i guess you really don't need me

well i guess not

i'm out of

here then i guess you don't need me

fine see ya

turn it off

[Music]

he's got a gun

[Music]

okay

[Music]

[Music]

what are you doing

what are you doing spencer i can't do

this like this he does this all the time

jesus when you get it together you just

come

why

cry

what's her problem

it was pretty unprofessional it made it

very difficult to focus and do my job at

one point i just asked if i could stay

away from until we were ready to roll

cameras

no blocking no rehearsal and then i just

walked away once we got the shot

i didn't want anything to do with him

actually

kind of party

we're having a party

oh frank are you serious

yeah come to the party

it's sweet it's my suite it's

i want you at the party you are

you're an idiot you need help you know

that you really do you [ __ ] need help

i'm not coming to the why

come on

pretty good

oh yeah frank drinks frank it's real

hard phone rings three o'clock in the

morning be only one sunbitch in the

world i don't even say hello i just

what's up frank

he's put us through a lot he's put

himself through a lot

he's put his liver through a lot

well there are two kinds of party

animals

there's moi

and there's frank

now

i can handle my drugs i can handle my

drinking that's why i could work on them

however frank

couldn't i'm telling you this guy's

ruining my goddamn picture

frank

frank

frank

frank open up

you have the key

yeah

he said never to use it

here's personal assistant right

right do you want to be associate

producer

frank frank frank

frank frank

frank

fred

sean

sean what are you doing

sean what's going on

frank

frank

frankie hey buddy get a wet towel get

some water frank frankie frank frank

frankie frank frank hey

hey buddy time to wake up

time to wake up movie star

freak

wake up

[ __ ]

hi

i'm frank

and i'm an alcoholic

been sober for

a little over three years now

and

for me alcohol

um

wasn't the only drug it just kind of

started there

and spiraled into

harder and harder drugs and

it's hard for me to talk about it

still to this day um

i think about

how it affected my life

will hey

is good meeting tonight oh yeah

fantastic that was good great speaker

good how are you doing

hey frank do mom

hey richard call me later will you yeah

i will i will don't forget i will hey

well hey good to see you how are you

doing

i'm good yeah yeah cool thanks all right

okay

hey why didn't you call

why don't i call him at one

you know about what

um i thought we

stopped this

i'm

sorry i

was working last night and i

i had this canker soren you know i

couldn't get my bags on this week

the program won't work unless you work

the program

i'm your sponsor just call me call me

anytime oh i should have also it was a

momentary laptop i should have called

i'll call next time

it's over

get rid of that it's over it's between

us okay

you want me to get rid of it for you

i got it

under attack south carolina 1993.

[Music]

uh

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

frank

i just opened your mail and you got

another letter from samantha asking you

to come to a fundraiser

she hasn't made any money since you

stopped going and she left the studio

and it would really

maybe help things with you and

yeah

do you want me to confirm

yeah

why don't you confirm there's some

chocolate cake and go get

five six seven eight one two three four

one

[Music]

we all love francis

and we understand that he cannot return

our phone calls

because he is a very busy man

but

we really look forward to hearing from

him

because then we can have our fundraiser

and we can move back to the big space

and the big school

and we can celebrate

and i can get out of this little

shuttle sorry

frank i want to touch on a sensitive

subject

like elvis

who also did karate

you gained a lot of weight at one time

in your life

and like elvis you also did a lot of

drugs everyone knew it

what kind of drugs were you doing what

was it steroids or what because you're

up and down with the weight so suddenly

i did them all

i know

winstrol

banned a ball

testosterone pit bull semen

was

the pressure man i had to

get lean

for the fans nobody wanted to see a fat

frank sledge man

boy oh boy pitbull seaman

how would you take that

jimbo thailand 1995.

how do i know ron jimpo

he's my boy

i was his commander i recruited and

trained him for vietnam until i've seen

him do [ __ ] that'll turn you white

so i guess it gives me the right to call

him my boy

he's been trained to survive

to live off the land

to eat things that would make a billy

goat puke

i'm not talking about plastic bags tin

cans beer bottles i'm talking about the

gnarly stuff

here's one objective

[Music]

that's to kill

period

you want to send your men in after him

you better remember one thing

a good supply of body bags

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

we were majorly screwed on the day that

frank sled showed up oh this was one one

time no no many many

days it was one of your greatest moments

i've ever seen a director think on his

feet great news

he's totally drunk

what completely what you can't even

stand i thought you had somebody with

him i didn't have anybody with him what

the [ __ ] your job is i understand i

[ __ ] up you gotta cover me

okay assistant we got another problem i

know joe or something dallas dallas give

me the script calm down calm down you're

one of the best directors in the world

all right shut up don't patronize me

right now if you don't need patronizing

i'll save it

what this man did is he had a scene with

dialogue between sledge and this

prisoner where our sledge was carrying a

big part of the scene and he was

rescuing the guy he was coming in

completely drunk he couldn't even get

from his trailer to the to the stage and

the guy was

shot all right just let it go let it go

all right

watch your shoes

i got a i got an idea here i think it's

really going to work joe and barry

simpson pretty much okay

no donald david i'm ready joel all right

joel joe okay great that's what i said

now uh here's what we're gonna do

um you know the scene is with you and

frank sledge but what we're gonna have

you do is i just think it's more

effective for all these lines to be said

by you the the both the speech between

my friends

no no not your life in america right the

whole thing back and forth it's you it

multiple personality you're you have

these lines yeah you you have a multiple

personality uh in now

this is you you're not interacting thing

man yeah big moment i don't uh

was he supposed to be multiple

personality well he is now

tested on the pows but sir

they'll be useless to us in the arena

they can't fight under those conditions

what about fight night

well i guess we'll have an inside

advantage on the bedding now won't we

yeah yeah

the hard part was remember trying to get

frank to to to respond to the community

like he couldn't he couldn't do it he

didn't he wasn't bringing anything to it

he was shh

not an american and i'm here to help

and i'm here to help

let's just try it again try it again

just try it again just take a half a

step whoa it would have been a lot

easier if he was

drunk say only 20 of the time cause he

would have remembered it and i wouldn't

have blocked it all out

give him the drugs what the drugs why

the drugs they can't fight on the drugs

we're rats look at me right

right focus come on yeah all you needed

was one good take with sledge i mean

that's the good thing about him you

could never count on 20 good ones but

you could pretty much prod him into one

good you could pray for one yeah

i'll be back

right here come on over here over here

ah

all right all right caught cod cod

frank had gotten pathetic

it wasn't only affecting the people

around him it was affecting his

performance as a hollywood action star

his career was

perspiring

controlled

you know in the morning we have the

explosion scene planned let's just blow

off the explosion till the afternoon the

light's a lot better no can do why and i

got the water truck and helicopter

coming in first thing he would have them

come a little later it's okay come on it

costs a lot of money you know what your

water truck costs buddy

you can do it what excuse me just one

second no what do you mean me you could

do it i don't know donna excuse me we

have a problem what's the problem

frank is unconscious

we'll wake him up what do you mean no

he's unconscious unconscious

he can't talk he can't talk

can he walk no this is a walk and talk

day this is a this is he can't walk and

he can't talk and we're in a walking

talk

we're going there because i don't walk

and talk to you i know when we're not

going to be able to do that are we

let's just come down we got to come up

with something what about 105 the chaps

in the car no it's not we can't drive we

can't and we can't even double him and

he's got to scream all right all right

all right um

how about 110. the interrogation 110 the

interrogation side i mean the set's not

lit well that's okay we'll just dress

the set and call the evil doctor guy and

get him get on it right a good idea

somebody get me a phone i'm going to

call my evil doctor okay now listen

there's been a change of plans okay

we're going to the interrogation scene

manny get over here i need your set

built right now

oh

i love this feel it

yes feels warm and tingly

comfortable huh so comfortable that you

will tell me everything you know

oh it's coming this

yes

you will be spilling your guts

excuse me

you know i don't think it's gonna work

don't don't look at me don't let you

keep rolling just go look at him you're

the evil doctor just get him

[Music]

don't break the fourth wall we'll dub it

he's a drug addict you're the evil

doctor come on focus focus just come on

the only peace of you

what did you say to me

i said they all wanna

[Music]

a couple years back i get a call

come down to the frank sledge movie set

stage 14 right away we call that control

he's supposed to be professional

he's an idiot

i grabbed my gun

i uh did what's called a a running uh

skip which is faster than a walk

but it doesn't alarm people

mr sledge

for some reason was

holding

his crew hostage had

terrorized them

for some unknown reason the word on the

squawker was it's bad down there

so i switched from a skip around to a

gallop by the time i got down there um

angelina jolie the leading lady of the

movie had

taken matters into her own hands pinning

him down

i couldn't believe it

i

i looked at her

half

hoping that a raptor

would drop down on that bitch's head

she in addition to violating

a union rule is taking

food out of my biracial kid's mouths

uh

i told her i needed to take care of

matters from there and uh i

took over mr sledge's custody and he uh

escaped

he was sick

and it upset me because i had no idea it

went on this long

you try to help your friends but they

have to want your help

and sometimes you just have to

love them enough to let them hit rock

bottom

i mean hit rock bottom

below the law

alpha vengeance hard to stop and jimbo

were all successful films

they made money at least

but glenn was gone

and frank's personal life was going in

the [ __ ]

but as long as your box office is hot

it's all that counts in this business

they'll use you to your self-destruct

and then when you no longer produce

they'll throw you away like

a pair of soiled underpants

i'm sure that

there's a lot of people that would

laugh right now seeing frank sludge

deliver pizzas but

this is the perfect job to get my life

back on track

it's got great hours i got medical

and uh

allows me to go to my acting classes and

practice my craft it's

perfect gee frank what made you realize

you lost everything

when did you realize it was all in the

crapper

this letter changed everything

i found it

after waking up from a

three-week bender

put on my own vomit

jacket haven't washed in a year

just reminds you who your friends are

you can read it

dear francis

we all know you were busy and we're all

happy for your success i knew you were a

special child this is your first

performance of the ugly ugly duckling at

my school

anyway

i just wanted to give you an update

the school has been closed for some time

now i don't know if you know it or not

honestly it was hard to make it without

your yearly fundraisers

well i'm just teaching a few privates

from my garage

it's okay

it's nothing like the school though

i miss the smiles on the kids faces when

they first learn how to do a jazz square

or a pot of beret

we don't have much room to learn these

moves now

do you remember little joey and lance

they are doing so well

they always looked up to you

they remind me of you

i hope this letter finds you well

love samantha

i let a friend down

about i will never

do that again

why don't you come and join us

i have to be the best frank sledge i can

be

this is it

it's a moment i've been waiting for

jack's got a deal

on the table

made an offer and uh i'm gonna go find

out what it is

hope it's big

hey

all right

there he is

frank

good man i see you brought your posse

your girlfriend with you sit down

all right

i think we got something yeah yeah

uh

it's a big deal

it's gonna be you and this young kid it

was very very hot i gather right now

they want you

yes you give me the word i'll make the

call right now make the call all right

oh there's one other thing the money

is scale plus 10. take it or

leave take it

[Music]

john travolta

robert downey jr

carrot top

frank joins an elite group of

celebrities who were given a second

chance at stardom

and during the filming of this

documentary something amazing happened

frank was given that second chance

and my cameras caught it all do you

understand the words that are coming out

of my mouth

oh no

never touch a white man's radio

what are you talking about man this is

some good funky stuff he's gonna get you

a good funky ass

whooping

[Music]

cut

frank that was excellent thank you very

much all right people let's go moving on

gotta love it right crack action look

it's getting better you know yeah it

looks good looks good am i doing that

stuff there

that's me in the middle there right

would you want a cigar you want to smoke

while you do this

yeah come on get it in there you go get

him okay yeah all right yep

kelly he's playing you

friend he's playing you okay so we'll

try it now okay very strong

half speed and action

and cut very strong okay you got it yep

okay let's go let's try

come on we good

okay

are we going now we're showing we shoot

we're gonna shoot

ready you guys all set okay good

[Music]

all right

let's reset please

[Music]

just take your time frank you're doing

great you're doing great

action

you guys are fast

cut

cut

[Music]

cut

cut

frank you're killing me

[Music]

if they're give me a signal like a q

something

[Music]

look it's not that difficult

you're killing me

you're not taking this it's not me brett

it's

frank

[Music]

i don't know i don't know

cut

sorry

[Music]

and

actions

[Music]

[Music]

left side

oh

[Laughter]

[Laughter]

crazy day yeah crazy

i'm sorry about this i know it's taking

your whole day and

but when i didn't get on a roll i'm

sorry frank i'm sorry

we got to replace you

it's

it's um it's not me it's you know the

business

i mean you're acting your acting has

been so on i'm so proud of what you've

been doing

thank you

unfortunately it's

it's an action movie we gotta

keep things moving with it we don't have

the time it costs a lot of money

[Music]

i'm sorry

i don't know what else to say

we'll stay in touch

right

yeah yeah

next one

frank just couldn't get the job done and

so they had to fire him

and then during the recasting uh they

came up with a whole new concept

they decided to turn it into a comedy

and that's when jackie chan and chris

tucker came aboard

and i was out

that's why i don't have a poster next to

me

thanks frank

i know i know frank but

listen man you got two choices so you

might as well stay positive right all

right you didn't go out did you

okay

what step are you on anyway

that's it jesus

come on come on man

i'm kidding you i'm a joker i'm joking

that you i don't think i could get him a

job right now as an assistant fluff i

mean he's dead right now in this town

but you know you look at madonna right

who you know i know and i work with i

mean she's had times when she was flat

you know and she's come back you know i

mean it's all a question about hanging

around you just keep showing up you know

and and one day all the other suckers

are dead you know and you're there i

guess you have to bleep that suckers

right

it's a good word because you don't say

it much anymore though because it's so

you know so it's not pc

it wasn't just alcohol with me to be

honest it was every drug under the sun

man i just

i pot

i mean if if anyone didn't even pot it

was me man i just i was so paranoid to

begin i used to have a

a a rear view mirror on my stationary

bike that's how whacked i was okay i

mean i'm just so paranoid i'm still

paranoid but at least i don't you know i

don't smoke any dough in fact everybody

was affected by my drug use it was

tragic until

until

i followed these steps all the way and i

made my amends i apologize to everybody

that i screwed up because of my

whacked-out alcoholism

i mean i made my amends

to everybody

and i mean

everybody let it be me

who comes to hold you

when the world outside

has been cold to you

who set you free

let it be me

[Music]

i can make you smile

yes i understand you

and i will comfort

you

like no other woman can do

who set you free

i've come to this point in my life where

i realize

i have to ask forgiveness

frank all is forgiven i forgave you a

long time ago

your best friend is back

you know

a.a

a lot of good people great program

acting class

it's been a lot of fun but

something's always been missing i'll

tell you what's missing

dance

you're a dancer frank i've seen hundreds

of guys come and go through chippendales

but none of them

none of them were as good as you because

you're the best frank you're a dancer

and a dancer dances

dance you know it's so far away from me

now no no no no it's in there

you just need a little tune-up

[Music]

we got one final chance

gonna dance with the dragon this time

i'm gonna get it right come back

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

there's something so inspiring about

sweaty black men now my best friend is

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

straight to the

[Music]

and top show him i will fight to delete

[Music]

no thanks algae

[Music]

fight

[Music]

i've been sober for over three years now

and uh these meetings have meant

a lot in my sobriety

and keeping me sober

but lately

my acting class has been helping me a

lot it's been allowing me to open up in

different ways and

um

tonight i brought in a monologue that

i'm working on in my class

it's about someone who is going through

similar things that we've all been

through

and i'm just hoping that maybe uh you

wouldn't mind if i tried it out on

this audience tonight

thank you

we all have the same excuses

daddy didn't show me enough attention

mommy used food as a reward

my uncle touched me funny when i was a

kid but you know what

it's all [ __ ]

how can you look at yourself here in the

good old u.s of a and not rejoice

how do you know what you want is really

what you need because i want this

drink it gonna stop the the noises the

voices stop the yearning for a while

the truth is you're no different than

the people that surround you we're all

the same same emptiness same despair

and we have that pain

to bring us closer together

we were meant to

give love compassion friendship

and we're not complete

till we do so

i'm starting with the man in the mirror

[Music]

i'm going to help myself

by helping others

it's my only way out

end of scene

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

can you take me home

from this broken town

that was unbelievable i i'm shocked i

feel like i just

walked in on you in the shower

listen thanks we need to take a meeting

okay yeah got some time next week

absolutely can you give me a call let me

know when your schedule's free yeah i

can totally

any time thanks frank

thank you much thanks paul

okay all right i'll hear from you next

week yeah yeah definitely thank you

thanks

i made the choices that brought me to

the program but

you know what the program brought me to

you franken

you've really helped me turn my life

around i'm serious thanks but you know

it's the program itself i'm writing

again i've been taking some meetings

good matter of fact uh

someone's here to see you frank

russell

wouldn't have believed it man look at

you so good to see you you look great

scoot

over have a sleeve yeah come on they

look good jesus i wouldn't have believed

frank look at you man what are you doing

now what are you doing actually

studio's finally back in one of my

pictures frank no way can you believe

that big studio guy now huh yeah i'm

trying 20 years later that's great

that's great who's directing uh the

director's a bit shaky it's a first-time

guy you might know him actually

will's directing no way will

congratulations thanks a lot frank yeah

well you got a star

uh kind of in negotiations right now

yeah with who

oh frank

we're negotiations right now

is so loved by every dancer in america

right now because he has created a new

genre the action adventure musical honey

all these children are gonna have jobs

everybody's flocking to california you

know they used to want to do the action

thing now they know they got to be

dancing they got to be fighting and

dancing and you know frank did that

[Applause]

i know dance

hmm

show me

this is a dancing program

similar to a programmed reality of the

computer-generated world which enslaves

us

the basic rules are the same

like rhythm beats

what you must learn is that these rules

are no different than a computer system

some of them

can be bent

others can be broken

do you

understand good

then follow me

if you can

[Music]

katie and you are having a dance on

you're too fast

do you think my being fashioned more

suave than you has anything to do with

my body in this place

do you think that's real sweat trickling

down your nose

wrong

again

[Music]

[Music]

what are you doing you know you're

faster than that don't think that you

all know that you are come on stop

attempting to dance and dance

[Applause]

oh jesus christ

take a look at his nerve kinetics are up

the charts

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

now that frank has incorporated dance

into the movies it's uh it's now set the

tone for everybody else so

now i'm gonna have to incorporate dance

we're all gonna have to dance

i hate dance

we meet again mr danielson i've waited a

long time for this

what can i do for you

you can help us to fulfill our purpose

mr danielson and we will help you

fulfill yours

what is my purpose

your purpose is the reason you are here

and reason is all we have

except for purpose

of course

i don't quite follow

are you guys here for purpose or for a

reason

we all have a reason for our purpose and

a purpose for our reason

it was our fate

to meet again

and our destiny

[Applause]

so is it fate

destiny reason or purpose

why are you guys here again

we are here for this

[Music]

[Applause]

first

ah

[Music]

i so

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

so

[Music]

hmm

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

frank's back and bigger than ever an

international celebrity endorsing

products

thank you bringing enjoyment

and quality to life

[Music]

[Applause]

is in my opinion uh is the most

underrated

action star

of

this century without a doubt

[Music]

a career reborn an actor redefined

sought after by the biggest stars and

directors in hollywood there is no doubt

that frank will continue to wow his

millions of fans for years to come

just like elvis would if he was still

here

i know that i'll be watching

he is

[Music]

speech

[Music]

you