Olivier Gruner Interview

In this business, some interviewees live up to your expectations, while others live down to them. Everyone says Chuck Norris is the nicest man in the martial arts movie field, while I have gotten along better with Jeff Speakman and with Van Damme, who's supposed to be difficult. Steven Seagal is said to be an arrogant s.o.b. and, guess what, he is! I've established lasting friendships with various former interview subjects, Cynthia Rothrock and Donnie Yen among them, and virtually come to blows with a choice few, with Chinese action 'star' Conan Lee being foremost among them. I must admit that, given all of the above, I had trepidations about my meeting with Olivier Gruner. I had just read an interview that purported to be a one-on-one with the Gallic action hero in one of the American martial arts magazines, and he had come across as conceited and ungrateful. Happily, I found that that article had lived up to that publication's sterling (non existent) reputation as an accurate source of movie news, and that Olivier Gruner was charming, eloquent and a lot of fun. He seemed more interested in my recent appointment as public relations consultant to the British branch of the World Kickboxing Association than he was in talking about his movies! Maybe this is because the former full-contact champion is contemplating a return to the ring. Anyway, having established that Olivier is a true blue member of The Good Guys Club, I settled down to twelve rounds of Q and A action. 

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