Dimitri Logothetis | |
|---|---|
 Logothetis in August 2023 | |
| Born | Athens, Greece |
| Occupations |
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| Website | dimitrisite |
Dimitri Logothetis is a Greek-American filmmaker and actor.
Dimitri Logothetis | |
|---|---|
| Logothetis in August 2023 | |
| Born | Athens, Greece |
| Occupations |
|
| Website | dimitrisite |
Dimitri Logothetis is a Greek-American filmmaker and actor.
Logothetis was born in Athens, the son of Anna and Euthymios Logothetis. [1] His father had previously lived with family in Los Angeles, where he became an American citizen and worked as a mechanic for eight years before returning to Athens. When Logothetis was six years old, he moved with his parents to Los Angeles; he attended Beverly Vista Grammar School and Lawndale High School, where he played football and ran track, before moving on to Loyola Marymount University.
In his last year of university, Logothetis was hired by Capitol Records to record the American tour of rock band The Knack.[ citation needed ] He was then hired by Columbia Pictures to produce his first film, Hardbodies 2 . In 1987, he directed his first feature film Pretty Smart , [2] and developed the horror film Slaughterhouse Rock . In 1989, he made a documentary about five heavyweight boxers who dominated the sport in their time, Champions Forever, starring Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
Danny Aiello then came to Logothetis with a stage play, Wheel Barrel Closers, which Logothetis adapted for the screen and directed under the title The Closer, starring Aiello, Diane Baker and Michael Paré. He then acquired the rights to a Stephen King script written specifically for the screen, and produced Sleepwalkers for Columbia Pictures.
In 1994, Logothetis directed and produced Body Shot, [3] a film noir thriller starring Robert Patrick, for HBO. He then moved into the Western genre and produced and directed Cheyenne, [4] starring Bo Svensen and Gary Hudson.
In 1999, Logothetis was hired by Warner Brothers and directed the pilot for the television series Robin Hood. [5]
He directed Mike Hammer , [6] starring Stacy Keach, for Franklin Waterman. He then directed the pilot episode for the action adventure series Air America, starring Lorenzo Lamas, and went on to direct eight more episodes.
In 2000, Logothetis was hired by Warner Brothers to be the executive producer of the science fiction action adventure TV series Code Name: Eternity . He was responsible for the creative look and feel of the series and for writing and directing the pilot episode. The next year, Warner Brothers asked him to serve as executive producer and to direct another TV anthology, The Dark Realm, where he edited the two-hour pilot episode and supervised the screenwriting.
In 2010, Logothetis became President of Production at Kings Road Entertainment. [7] He then re-developed and wrote a series called The Outfit, [8] again based on Giancana, that he set up with Radar Pictures and producer Ted Field. He then set up a remake of All of Me with John Davis and DreamWorks, [9] which he is set to produce. DreamWorks let the option on All of Me expire and Logothetis teamed up with Todd Garner to set up All of Me as a TV series at NBC Universal. [10]
In 2013, Logothetis took up Giancana again, and along with his project partner Nick Celozzi, wrote, produced and directed a documentary on him, Momo: The Sam Giancana Story, which won the 2012 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival "Best Feature Documentary" award. [11] In 2015, he produced Kickboxer: Vengeance , [12] a reboot of the Kickboxer franchise, with Ted Field and Radar Pictures.
Logothetis wrote and produced Kickboxer: Vengeance starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and the new kickboxer, Alain Moussi, with other talents such as Dave Bautista, Georges Saint-Pierre, and Gina Carano. Logothetis was attracted to the original Jean-Claude Van Damme's Kickboxer because of his martial arts background and that's what inspired him to pursue the rights to the original, develop a reboot of the franchise and ultimately write, produce and direct a contemporary version of the pop culture, iconic Kickboxer. It was important that Logothetis to convince Van Damme to step into the role of mentor to ordain a new, high octane Kickboxer who has a sixth degree black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, Alain Moussi. According to Den of Geek, “ Kickboxer: Vengeance is the nostalgic treat you’d hoped for, the cinematic equivalent of an old, warm, blood stained blanket, that you wrap yourself up in and then hope more people will want to join you under, but most likely won’t. There is a strange comfort to watching familiar events unfold from a new perspective, but it’s the respectful way it treats the original that makes it such good entertainment for long time Kickboxer fans”. [13] “Kickboxer: Vengeance is a pleasant surprise with a fun twist on the 80s action film but set in modern day Thailand, and a knowing self-reflexive quality that actually makes it a really enjoyable twist. If you enjoy martial arts, action, a bit of tongue-in-cheek comedy or if you just enjoyed the original Kickboxer, then check out Kickboxer: Vengeance.” - Screen Jabber. [14]
In 2016, Logothetis wrote and directed the sequel, Kickboxer: Retaliation, which introduced new characters, Mongkut, played by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson and Thomas Moore, played by Christopher Lambert. Kickboxer: Retaliation got 92% from critics and 84% from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes. [15] Kickboxer: Retaliation is #6 Martial Arts Movie on Netflix with the Highest Rotten Tomatoes Score. [16] According to Men's Health, during the week of September 29, 2020, Kickboxer: Vengeance film was in the top 15 most viewed action films on Netflix. [17] "Kickboxer Retaliation" is one of the Best Action Movies of 2018" [18] and is in The Top 50 Action Gems of the Decade. [19] According to Forbes, “If you aren’t watching the new Kickboxer movies, you’re doing it wrong. As action reboots go, the Kickboxer remake films–Vengeance, and now Retaliation–nail the action vibe better than The Expendables movies ever did, and without necessarily pandering to nostalgia, either". [20]
2020 saw the release of Logothetis's science fiction martial arts film Jiu Jitsu starring Alain Moussi, Nicolas Cage, and Tony Jaa. Shot on the island of Cyprus, it was supposed to mark the beginning of a new martial arts franchise. [21] It received negative reviews, but was #4 on Netflix in the US and #1 on Netflix in Canada the week of its release. Logothetis later announced that he would not be returning to Cyprus to shoot the film's planned sequels. [22] He and the film's producers announced their decision to pull out of Cyprus completely, stating their intention to take legal action against the Cypriot government due to the continued non-payment of almost €8 million which the film's investors are owed by the government per the terms of their contract. [22] Logothetis said, "I can no longer make the movie [in Cyprus]. [...] I'm going to take it somewhere else. [...] If you don't pay on time and you don't treat a producer properly, they're going to leave. [...] Everybody wants to win an argument—fine, you won the argument. We're gonna take our movie, take our money, and we're gonna go somewhere else. Thank you." [22]
Logothetis most recently completed production on Gunner , an actioner starring Morgan Freeman and Luke Hemsworth, which is currently in post-production. [23]
Logothetis is developing two Kings Road Entertainment properties: All of Me, a remake of the film that starred Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin; and The Best of Times, a remake of the film that starred Kurt Russell and Robin Williams. Logothetis is producing these projects with Todd Garner, former President of production of Disney.[ citation needed ] Logothetis is also in the pre-production process for the third and final film in his Kickboxer reboot trilogy, Kickboxer: Armageddon, a new action thriller, Flying Shadow, as well as a sequel to Jiu Jitsu. [24]
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd-dan black belt in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. As a teenager, he won the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association in 1979 and the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978. With the desire of becoming an actor in Hollywood, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).
Bloodsport is a 1988 American martial arts film directed by Newt Arnold. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, with a supporting cast of Leah Ayres, Forest Whitaker, Donald Gibb, Roy Chiao, and Bolo Yeung. The film centers on Frank Dux, a United States Army Captain and ninjutsu practitioner who competes in an underground full-contact martial arts tournament called the Kumite in Hong Kong. Based on Dux's real-life claims, the film was marketed as a true story. It was one of Van Damme's first lead roles and showcased his abilities, launching his career as a mainstream action star.
Tatchakorn Yeerum(Thai: ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์, RTGS: Thatchakon Yiram, pronounced[tʰát.t͡ɕʰā.kɔ̄ːnjīː.rām]; formerly Phanom Yeerum ), better known internationally as Tony Jaa and in Thailand as Jaa Phanom, is a Thai martial artist, actor, action choreographer, stuntman, director, and traceur. Best known for his martial arts films, he is credited with helping establish the Thai action genre worldwide. He was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 2017.
Kickboxer is a 1989 American martial arts film directed by David Worth and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Former world kickboxing champion Dennis Alexio is also featured. The plot revolves around Kurt Sloane seeking revenge on the fearsome kickboxing champion Tong Po who paralyzed his brother Eric Sloane. The film is regarded as the first movie to bring Muay Thai to a global audience.
Michael Jai White is an American actor and martial artist. He was the first Black American to portray a major comic book superhero starring as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1997 film Spawn. White appeared as Marcus Williams in the Tyler Perry films Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010), and starred as the character on the TBS/OWN comedy-drama television series Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse. White portrayed Jax Briggs in Mortal Kombat: Legacy and the Cyborg Seth in Universal Soldier: The Return, opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme. He portrayed boxer Mike Tyson in the 1995 HBO television film Tyson. He also played the title role in the blaxploitation parody film Black Dynamite (2009), as well as the animated series of the same name.
Bloodfist is a 1989 American martial arts film directed by Terence H. Winkless, starring Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Rob Kaman, Billy Blanks and Cris Aguilar. The plot sees an American former kickboxer travel to Manila, where he re-enters competition to avenge the murder of his brother and fellow fighter.
Olivier Gruner is a French actor, filmmaker, martial artist and former kickboxer. Born in Paris, he moved to France in 1988 after serving in the French military and competing as a professional kickboxer, during which time he won a silver medal at the W.A.K.O. World Championships. He has appeared in over 40 films and four television series and is best known for martial arts and action films.
Scott Edward Adkins is a British actor and martial artist. He gained prominence with his villainous portrayal of the Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the American martial arts film Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006), a role he reprised in its sequels Undisputed III: Redemption (2010) and Boyka: Undisputed (2017). He has since made films in a variety of genres, such as crime dramas, martial arts movies, war films, action thrillers, sci-fi actioners and action comedies, mostly as the lead.
Darren Majian Shahlavi was an English actor, martial artist and stuntman.
Jeff Bowler is an American film and television producer best known for producing films such as The Grand and programs such as Inked.
JuJu Chan Szeto also known as JuJu Chan, is an American actress, martial artist, singer, and writer.
Michel Qissi is a Moroccan Belgian actor, filmmaker, and martial artist best known for his action films. Qissi is the co-founder of The World Cinema Combat Federation (WCCF), an organization he formed with Grand Master Beom Jhoo Lee which teaches fight choreography in filmmaking.
Daniel Bernhardt is a Swiss actor, stuntman, martial artist, and former model. He is known for his work on various action films. He made his acting debut in the leading role in the martial arts film Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite (1996), and appeared in two of its sequels, Bloodsport III (1997) and Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite (1999).
Matthew Ziff is an American actor and producer. As a child model he was represented by Wilhelmina Models. Presently he acts in and sometimes is a producer of feature films.
Kickboxer: Vengeance is a 2016 American martial arts film directed by John Stockwell, and starring Dave Bautista, Alain Moussi, Gina Carano, Georges St-Pierre, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. It is the sixth film in the Kickboxer franchise and also serves as a reboot. The film has a similar premise as the first film in the franchise. The film was released in select theaters and on VOD by RLJ Entertainment on September 2, 2016.
Alain Moussi is a Canadian actor, stuntman, and martial artist trained in jujitsu, kickboxing, and karate. He plays the lead role of Kurt Sloane in the reboot of the Kickboxer series, Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016) and Kickboxer: Retaliation (2018), a role that was originated by Jean-Claude Van Damme, who portrays his mentor in the films. Moussi also played the lead role in the action film Jiu Jitsu (2020), the role of Charlie Nash in the web series Street Fighter: Resurrection (2016), and Batman in the first season of the television series Titans (2018).
Kickboxer is an American action film franchise that totals seven films. The first installment revolves around a character named Kurt Sloane, played by Jean-Claude Van Damme. Due to opting out of Kickboxer 2 to do the film Double Impact, the second through fourth installments focus on the character David Sloane, younger brother to Van Damme's character from the original. Redemption: Kickboxer 5 focuses on Matt Reeves, a friend of the Sloan family. After a long hiatus, a sixth entry was eventually made as Kickboxer: Vengeance, which also serves as a reboot to the storyline, with Alain Moussi portraying Kurt Sloane and original actor Van Damme playing his trainer. The seventh entry, titled Kickboxer: Retaliation, serves as a direct sequel to Kickboxer: Vengeance.
Kickboxer: Retaliation is an American martial arts film directed and written by Dimitri Logothetis. It is the seventh in the Kickboxer film series and a direct sequel to the 2016 film Kickboxer: Vengeance, also written by Logothetis. The film stars Alain Moussi, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Christopher Lambert, Ronaldinho, Mike Tyson, Rico Verhoeven and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. Aside from Moussi and Van Damme, Sara Malakul Lane and Sam Medina reprised their roles from the previous film.
Lewis Singwah Tan is a British actor, martial artist and model. He is known for his roles as Cole Young in Mortal Kombat (2021), Shatterstar in Deadpool 2 (2018) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Tolya in Shadow and Bone (2023), and Lu Xin Lee in Wu Assassins (2019).
Jiu Jitsu is a 2020 American science fiction martial arts film directed by Dimitri Logothetis, who co-wrote the screenplay with James McGrath. It is based on the 2017 comic book of the same name by Logothetis and McGrath. It stars Alain Moussi, Frank Grillo, JuJu Chan, Tony Jaa and Nicolas Cage. It was a box office bomb, grossing less than $100,000 against a budget of $25 million, and was critically panned.
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