10 Things You Didn’t Know About Cyborg

Admittedly I have never been the world’s biggest Cyborg fan. Of all the classic Van Damme movies from the late 80’s and early 90’s, Cyborg was always at the bottom of my list. But when I heard that there was going to be a Collector’s Edition of Cyborg coming to Blu-ray… I knew it would be in my collection on day one. And here’s why…

First off, as a collector I feel the need to “collect them all” and my Jean-Claude Van Damme collection simply would not be complete without the Collector’s Edition of Cyborg. Secondly, Shout Factory’s track record with collector’s editions is top notch. They set the bar for these types of presentations with their Shout Factory and Scream Factory brands. Third, when I found out that Director Albert Pyun was providing the commentary track for the Blu-ray, I knew it would be good listening… but I did not realize how good that listening would be. Not only did I get tons of Cyborg information, Albert spilled the beans on some of the plans and plots for two Cannon movies that never were… Masters of the Universe II and Spider-Man. 

The commentary is just one of the many special features included in the Cyborg Collector’s Edition Blu-ray and it served as my source material for…

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Cyborg

1. The concept for Cyborg was something that Albert Pyun thought up on a flight from North Carolina to Los Angeles. Pyun had been in North Carolina preparing to film two projects for Cannon, Masters of the Universe II and Spider-Man. Both projects were cancelled just weeks before shooting was scheduled to begin after Cannon failed to pay the necessary rights fees to Mattel and Marvel. Pyun had the bright idea of using the crew who was already in North Carolina and ready to work, plus the costumes and the sets that were intended for his now cancelled films, for a new film that he thought up that day on the airplane.

2. Albert Pyun wrote the actual script for Cyborg (originally titled Slinger) in one weekend while listening to Def Leppard.

3. Albert Pyun had envisioned his story Slinger as a Chuck Norris vehicle. Norris would portray a National Guardsman who had to travel from New York to Atlanta in the aftermath of war in hopes of reuniting with his family. When Pyun pitched the idea of Chuck Norris as the star of the movie, Menahem Golan disagreed but suggested Pyun take advantage of a Cannon star who was on the rise, Jean-Claude Van Damme. Pyun did not feel that Van Damme was right for the part due in large part to his accent. But Pyun agreed to go forward with Van Damme as the lead and was given an extra day to rewrite the film to tailor it more to Van Damme.

4. Albert Pyun initially met Vincent Klyn through Klyn’s friend, world famous surfer Laird Hamilton (Hamilton was cast as He-Man in Masters of the Universe II). With his unique look and size, Pyun felt that Klyn would match up well against Van Damme and would be perfect as Cyborg’s villain, Fendor Tremolo.

5. All the members of Fendor’s gang were originally cast to be He-Man’s friends in Masters of the Universe II.

6. The only set that was specifically built for Cyborg was the sewer set. Although the concept of how they would create the sewer setting inside an old cement factory was based on an idea Pyun had for Spider-Man.

7. After hearing that multiple test screenings of Cyborg did not go well, Jean-Claude Van Damme (fresh off the plane from Thailand where he was filming Kickboxer) approached Menahem Golan about editing the film himself. Since Bloodsport did so well for Cannon, Golan agreed and Van Damme’s version of the film is what we all saw, not Albert Pyun’s.

8. One scene that ended up on the cutting room floor thanks to JCVD was during the sewer sequence where Van Damme’s Gibson Rickenbacker is doing the splits between two concrete pillars and an unknowing Brick Bardo (Ralf Moeller) walks underneath him. Pyun filmed a graphic demise for Brick and actually spent a portion of his limited budget to have a fake Rolf Moeller head made up so Gibson could cut Bardo’s head in half with blood squirting everywhere.

9. Cyborg was huge in Cairo and played there theatrically for two years straight.

10. Albert Pyun had a lot of ideas that Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus were not fans of… most notably Pyun wanting to release Cyborg in black and white giving it a more Norwegian film feeling. One day, a frustrated Yoram Globus was so sick of hearing Pyun’s crazy ideas that he actually threw a stapler at the director.