You read that right. Aikido’s most famous ambassador (or maybe aikido’s only ambassador) is now a Russian citizen. Before diving deep into this news (not too deep), let’s take a moment and look at the various steps that led to Seagal getting Russian citizenship.
Did you know Seagal got his first break in the industry by breaking Sean Connery’s wrist? Nice wordplay right? Being an aikido master, which was a rare thing at the time (and probably still is), he gave a studio exec an aikido demonstration and they gave him the film Above the Law to star in (or as we call it in France: Nico). Weird how movies get arbitrarily renamed for different markets. Do you know The Hangover was translated to Very Bad Trip (in English!) in France? Not even kidding.
Seagal went on to become one of the most beloved action stars in the early 90’s, a guilty pleasure if you will, one notch under Van Damme’s belt. One of the most popular questions in the ‘90s was unquestionably: who would win in a fight between Seagal and Van Damme? It was very heated debate to say the least.
1992 marks the year of Seagal’s biggest hit, the awesome Under Siege, which somehow managed to score two Oscar nominations! Two years later he won a Razzie for worst director for his eco friendly thriller On Deadly Ground. A slew of direct to video movies later, Seagal committed to his true passion and went on to have a fruitful career in the music industry.
Seagal apparently met Vladimir Putin back in 2003 at a film festival in Moscow, where they became best friends. How could he not get along with a man who rides bears across the tundra? He considers Putin “one of the world’s greatest leaders” and actually was supported Russia’s decision to annex Crimea. Putin’s warm feelings towards Seagal were apparently reason enough to give him citizenship. That and the fact he blindly supports him; a man on the verge of dictatorship (to put it mildly).
Seagal is not the only one who accepted Russian citizenship. Before him, there were boxer Roy Jones Jr. and of course French actor Gérard Depardieu. So what’s next? Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit? Yes, Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit is thinking about it.
So let’s give a piece of advice to Mr. Durst. Take a look around will you? Do you really want to be in the same boat as these guys? Don’t you want to remember Steven as Nico, the badass cop above the law? If so, then head on straight to Amazon where you can pick up the only available copy for an insane 24$! And it’s a DVD, not even Blu-ray! Sounds pretty Russian…