"Navy SEALS" was taken over by its two headstrong stars, Michael Biehn and Charlie Sheen.
"I wrote a lot of this movie," was the startling confession of Biehn during an interview here.
Oddly, the scriptwriter credits say Chuck Pfarrer and Gary Goldman.
"The original was an Officer and a Gentleman' type," he continued, adding a description that sounded more like "Top Gun." "It needed a lot of work."
Biehn admits that he couldn't write an original script but "I'm good at playing devil's advocate, second-guessing." He said frustration led him to jot down 20 legal pages of notes, which he then hired a writer to compose into script form. He gave them to Orion Pictures.
"They used the stuff," he claims.
Ah, but Biehn wasn't alone. "Charlie and I put in 12- to 14-hour days on the set and then we would come home and spend four hours writing the next day's script," he said.
That is an extraordinary claim. Consider the physically demanding role of an actor in a combat movie; consider the expense of shooting overseas (Spain); consider the painstaking preparation each day's shooting requires on location.
And these guys walked onto the set each morning and handed director Lewis Teague ("Jewel of the Nile") fresh scripts?
"Heck, the old cat's out of the bag," responded Sheen in a strangely robotic voice, when asked about the scriptwriting chores.
"Mike and I realized that things weren't as they should be once we reached Spain ... some of this (expletive) wasn't right.
"We were up some nights until 3 and 4 a.m. creating the next day's work." Biehn, sounding like a director, added, "I am pleased with the movie. It is not as good as I want it to be, but I'm proud of what is there. ... it is realistic.
"I'm shocked that it is as good as it is."
Uh-huh. What does director Teague have to say about all this?
"Look at the screen credits and see who was credited with the screenplay," he replies diplomatically.
Teague admits that his stars were up "playing with legal pads at night" but tries to minimize their contribution to the script.
"Some was good and used, a lot ended up on the editing-room floor," he said. Teague says a director is part manipulator, part psychiatrist. "You throw them some bones, shoot scenes two ways and decide in the editing room," he added curtly.
"It is not a waste of time if the actors come in with scenes of dialogue, enthusiastic. If it works, you're better off letting them do it."
The original script's author, ex-SEAL Chuck Pfarrer says there were actually three other uncredited writers who contributed to the script. Not counting Sheen and Biehn.
It begins to become clear why this movie never really decides where it wants to go: All the sailors were up in the wheelhouse with their hands on the wheel.
