Previous Directors Red Scorpion previous director: Duwayne Dunham Dark Angel / I Come In Peace previous director: Farhad Mann Cover-Up previous director William Tannen (Chuck Norris' Hero) "Like many projects, Cover Up endures the of its main actor. In case of the rufusal of important changes in the story, star would exit and give up the part. So exit director-writer William Tannen who should direct the film originaly. "William Tannen didn't get along well with the producers from a creative point of view. They both decided not work together for their visions of Cover Up were very different. The former script was full of clichés. Bad guys were of course arabic terrorists. Rather boring. My character didn't own little originality. He behaved with the more obvious preidctions." Dolph Lundgren in Impact, #30, December 1990 Universal Soldier previously attached directors - George Pan Cosmatos (Rambo : First Blood II, Leviathan) unconfirmed - John Milius (Conan the Barbarian, Red Dawn) unconfirmed - Andrew Davis "The project started in 1990 under the leadership of famous producer Mario Kassar, initiator of such films as the Rambo trilogy, Total Recall or Terminator 2. Kassar placed an action movie specialist, Andrew Davis (Above the Law, starring Steven Seagal), at the helm of the production. Also co-writer of the film, Davis imagined the Universal Soldiers like bionic men. A Three-billion-dollar Man reactualised in a way. Thus, several sequences should reveal the internal mecanism actioning the muscles of the robot warriors. Yet, problems of mutual comprehension soon appeared between Kassar and Davis. Under the impulse of the ambitious director, the formerly considered futuristic action film was more and more taking the look of a sci-fi movie. The budget was increasing speedingly. Davis was counting on using expensive computer generated images for numerous scenes, including his cyborgs point of view. Climbing contest, Kassar decided at last in February 1991 to thank his director. This departure could signify the death of the production. The whole team was free from its contractual obligations. But Kassar hesitated; he had a commercially explosive star duo. On their side, Van Damme and Lundgren were unwilling to see a such valorizing project for them to colapse. For one, Universal Soldier represented a ticket for the big leagues and for the latter, a chance to reborn after a series of commercial failures. The two men then used all their weight to tip the scales in order to keep the project alive." from SFX magazine, September 1992 (translated from French) Men Of War was to be directed by John Frankenheimer (The Island of Dr. Moreau, Ronin, Reindeer Games) who worked on an other similar film instead (The Burning Season). The Minion It was announced in summer 1996 that Italian horror filmmaker Michele Soavi (The Church, Dellamorte Dellamore with Rupert Everett) would direct it. Avi Nesher (Time Bomb, Doppleganger, Savage & Mercenary with Olivier Gruner) was also slated to direct it (he co-produced the film through Mahagonny Pictures). Storm Catcher announced director: John Putch (Phoenician's Tycus starring Dennis Hopper & Intrepid with James Coburn) but John Putch told that he never was attached to the film, the company just put his name on the flyer's credits to sell the movie Jill Rips previous director: Gareth Wardell (script co-writer), starring Tom Berenger The film rights were sold since the release of the novel (1987), Wardell, who is Scottish as Frederic Lindsay (writer), probably wrote the first adaptation script, then reworked by Kevin Bernhardt (Sweepers, Captured) when Franchise Pictures acquired it Agent Red announced director : W.B. Hickox (credits on the Captured flyer) Detention previous director (back in 1993): Paul Lynch The Defender previous director: Sidney J. Furie was originally hired to direct this film, but left due to illness during the prep period. Universal Soldier 3 previous directors: P.J. Pesce and Simon Fellows were attached to direct. One In The Chamber previous director: Tony Giglio was briefly in talks to direct The Package previous director: Ernie Barbarash was originally hired to direct this film.