Trivia / Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

• Acting in the Dark: According to an 1996 interview with Playboy, Sandra Taylor was unsure if her character of Kelly was going to live or die in the film. Two scenes were shot, one, where she was shot in the knee, which was included in the final cut of the film, and another, where she was shot in the heart and killed. Taylor claimed in the interview she wasn't aware of her character's fate until she saw the completed version of the film.
• Completely Different Title: International release prints omitted the Dark Territory subtitle and the picture was simply called Under Siege 2.
• Creator Backlash: Director Geoff Murphy called making the film "a very dreary process and very highly contentious at the time – lots of arguments and stuff. There was a point during the editing where I observed this incredibly high energy beast emerging, and I didn't know where it had come from, because there wasn't any of that energy on the set. It seemed to grow out of the editing process".
• Deleted Scenes: A couple of scenes had to be cut down for R rating:
  • During the fight with a one eyed terrorist after Ryback cuts the terrorist's wrist their fight concluded with Ryback stabbing the terrorist in the neck causing blood to spurt out which is why you see blood on the terrorists chin and sweater when he falls out of the cupboard.
  • The climatic fight between Ryback and Penn was more graphic and brutal, at one point Ryback forces Penn's face onto a hot cooker before they fall down the stairs, which is why Penn has a large red mark on his left cheek in the rest of the scene.
• Dolled-Up Installment: This was originally a standalone Steven Seagal film called In Dark Territory.
• Not Screened for Critics: In the UK, where it was heavily cut by the BBFC. Despite this several publications fabricated reviews and faked a low rating as was the typical snobbery regarding action films at the time.
• One for the Money; One for the Art: Steven Seagal agreed to make the film if Warner Bros. allowed him to direct On Deadly Ground. That didn't work out too well.
• The Other Darrin: The soundtrack version of After The Train Has Gone replaces Gregg Allman's vocals on the song. The 2017 Deluxe Edition has the song with his vocals intact, but he still goes uncredited.
• Technology Marches On:
  • Ryback's Apple Newton and the use of a CD as a storage medium in the sequel.
  • Travis Dane's laptop, with a then-ludicrous gigabyte of RAM (ca. 1995, 8 megabytes were standard).
• Wag the Director: Steven Seagal allegedly was in the cutting room for the editing process, vetting takes, causing friction between himself, the director and the editor. According to Morris Chestnut:
  The only time they really stuck to the script or had ad libs was the stuff when he really wasn't there. It was a lot of stuff, because at that time I think he was flying a helicopter, he was doing something...He would come to set, "Okay, you're gonna say this. I'm gonna say this and this is gonna happen and then you do that." That's how we did a lot of that movie.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, Jon Peters was slated to be a producer for the movie. He wanted to bring Gary Busey back, but after he was told Busey's character had died in the original and after determining that Busey could not come back, Peters left.
  • Busey actually was hired by Peters, before Seagal vetoed the idea entirely. Since Busey's deal was a pay-or-play deal, Busey received his $750,000 fee despite never being in the film.
  • Laurence Fishburne, Gary Oldman, Julian Sands and Jeff Goldblum were among those who refused the role of Travis Dane.
  • According to an 1996 interview with Playboy, Sandra Taylor was unsure if her character of Kelly was going to live or die in the film. Two scenes were shot, one, where she was shot in the knee, which was included in the final cut of the film, and another, where she was shot in the heart and killed. Taylor claimed in the interview she wasn't aware of her character's fate until she saw the completed version of the film.
  • Jenny McCarthy auditioned for the role of Kelly for Steven Seagal. She claims Seagal ordered her to strip even though the role did not require nudity. Seagal's spokesperson has denied McCarthy's story.

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