Action Jackson (1988)

Interesting facts

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Action Jackson is a 1988 American blaxploitation action comedy film directed by Craig R. Baxley, starring Carl Weathers, Vanity, Sharon Stone and Craig T. Nelson. The film was released in the United States by Lorimar Film Entertainment on February 12, 1988. It received mostly negative reviews, but was a moderate box office success.

Production

A creation that came about when I was doing Predator and talking to Joel Silver, who loved blaxploitation movies. Joel said, "Well, you know, why don't you put something together?" So during that time of shooting [Predator] down in Puerto Vallarta, I created this story and came up with this guy – or at least this title – Action Jackson. And Joel found a writer [who] wrote the screenplay, and that was it. We got it made.

Robert Reneau was hired to write the screenplay and submitted his original draft one month and a half later. It is his first produced script, although he had briefly worked on additional scenes for Lethal Weapon. In addition to Weathers and Silver, supporting actors Bill Duke and Sonny Landham also returned from Predator, as did stunt coordinator Craig R. Baxley, who made his directorial debut with Action Jackson.

In 1988, Vanity, who played the role of drug addicted singer Sydney Ash, discussed her actual cocaine use during filming:

I was a real closet user when we were shooting the movie. No one knew what was going on, and I wasn't using while I was working, but as soon as we were through for the day, I was into the stuff. I really felt funny playing an addict and also knowing I was one, and maybe that helped me decide that I needed treatment.

Vanity overdosed in 1994 and struggled with health issues until her death in 2016.

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