Steven Seagal had great success in the 1990s. However, despite playing the lead role in this movie, he was not seen for a large part of the runtime.
Which movie is it about? Under Siege is one of Steven Seagal’s most famous films. In English, it is titled Under Siege. It was released in 1992, the decade in which Seagal was probably at his most successful.
Under Siege is even the commercially most successful film of the actor. It grossed around 156 million US dollars worldwide (via boxofficemojo.com).
Ironically, Seagal plays the lead role, but he is only seen for about 41 minutes in the film, which has a runtime of 98 minutes.
The Villain Steals the Show
Why does Seagal have so little screentime? Seagal plays Casey Ryback in the film, who must fend off an attack by terrorists on a US Navy ship. Due to this role, Seagal even made it into the game World of Warships. The main antagonist and Ryback’s opponent is William Strannix, played by none other than Tommy Lee Jones.
Compared to Seagal, Jones is seen much more often. According to Nick de Semlyen and his book “Last Action Heroes,” the reason was simple: Seagal was initially not really convinced by the project and doubted whether he should even sign on for it.
Thus, the villain and therefore Jones was given more space in the script. For his performance, Jones received much praise and his own career was boosted. Just a year later, he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film The Fugitive.
But despite his low screentime, the film was worth it for Seagal. Not only did it gross a lot of money worldwide, it made the actor even more popular. And ultimately, in Hollywood, it is not really important how long one is seen on screen.
Some major actors won their Oscar even for roles where they were only seen for a few minutes. A well-known example is Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs.
Seagal did not receive an Oscar for his portrayal in Under Siege. However, he went down in film history and is considered one of the great action stars of that time. Who is now considered the biggest action star was decided by viewers in a poll – read on MeinMMO to see who made it to first place.
