Editing Marked for Death (section)

== Production ==
Steven Seagal had wanted to hire director Dwight Little for his second feature, ''[[Hard to Kill]]'', but studio [[Warner Bros.]] vetoed his choice, and went with [[Bruce Malmuth]] instead. According to Little, Seagal had the option in his contract with Warner to do one film with another studio. Seagal chose to exercise that option and make his third film at 20th Century Fox, where he demanded  that they hire Little for ''Marked for Death''. "I got that job only because Steven insisted," said Little.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Dwight Little interview|url=https://www.flashbackfiles.com/dwight-little-interview|access-date=2021-05-23|website=THE FLASHBACK FILES|language=en-US}}</ref> During production, the studio was pushing for more humor in the film, but Little and Seagal had made a pact to resist these attempts. Their template for the film was [[The French Connection (film)|''The French Connection'']].<ref name=":0" />

On the third day of shooting ''Marked for Death'', ''Hard to Kill'' came out in theaters. Dwight Little: "It opened huge, and it stayed on top for a while. No one, including Steven, thought that was going to be success. But it was. Frankly, just based on his charisma and a couple of good action scenes. I was downtown shooting a scene for ''Marked for Death'' when suddenly I see all these limos and towncars coming to the set. They were all CAA-agents and producers, coming out of the woodwork to see the next big action guy. They all wanted to talk to him."<ref name=":0" />

Of Seagal's martial arts, Little said: "Steven is the only guy who does what he does in the movies, where you let your opponent's energy go past you. In that respect, he's totally unique. But it's not a forward, high kicking, punching thing. That's why I felt I needed action movie stuff, like car chases, gun fights, explosions and some old fashioned cop stuff. Because if we tried to string together a bunch of Steven's fights, they will quickly start to feel the same."<ref name=":0" />