Bloodstone's No-Union Gamble and the Director Who Lost His Own Movie in the Editing Room

Scandals & Feuds4/5 wildness

Bloodstone's No-Union Gamble and the Director Who Lost His Own Movie in the Editing Room

Dwight H. Little and Nico Mastorakis / 1980s

The film's financial limitations shaped nearly every major creative decision. According to director Dwight H. Little, Mastorakis did not have enough money to hire Screen Actors Guild performers, so American leads Brett Stimely and Anna Nicholas were employed as non-union actors. Little later remarked that using non-union performers as the leads in an action picture was effectively asking too much of them, revealing the production's precarious economics. The cast also included Indian superstar Rajinikanth, who was not fluent in English at the time and spent a week studying with a tutor from the American Consulate before filming. After Little completed a rough cut, his relationship with Mastorakis deteriorated over creative differences. Mastorakis ultimately finalized the picture himself, leaving Little uninvolved in the final cut—a familiar but especially stark example of a director losing control of a film after enduring an already disastrous shoot.