Best remembered for playing Eddie in Eddie & the Cruisers (1983) and its sequel, Eddie & the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives! (1989), Michael Pare makes his living appearing in B-movies and straight-to-video actioners. The Brooklyn-born Pare started out as a New York Culinary Institute-trained sous chef and then a model. He started acting at a friend's suggestion and studied under Uta Hagen and Marvin Nelson. His first break came from playing tough student Tony Villicana on the adventure/comedy series The Greatest American Hero (1981). This led to the leading role in the made-for-television film Crazy Times (1981). Following his work in Eddie & the Cruisers, Pare starred in The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). His shot for major movie stardom came from director Walter Hill, whose own career was taking off following the success of his Eddie Murphy vehicle 48 Hrs. (1982). Hill cast Pare in the lead of Streets of Fire (1984). The director had originally meant for it to be the first of an action trilogy starring Pare, but the film failed at the box office. Subsequently Pare became the star of numerous low- and medium-budget features and the occasional made-for-cable television movie. In 1987, he starred in the short-lived television series Houston Knights. He reappeared in a big-budget feature, Village of the Damned, in 1995, but despite its fairly big-name cast, it was unsuccessful, and Pare returned to B-movies such as Raging Angels (1995) and Bad Moon (1996). Recent films include Bone Tomahawk and How Sweet it Is.
ABOUT WEAPONIZED, AVAILABLE MARCH 1st
A damaged homicide detective must prevent a grieving father from unleashing a "robotic virus" in WEAPONIZED, an action-packed thriller arriving on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD March 1. Ripped-from-the-headlines horrors meets 21st century weapons tech in this muscular sci-fi film featuring an all-star action cast with Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Heat), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Iron Man 2), Johnny Messner (4GOT10) and Jon Foo, star of the upcoming CBS series "Rush Hour".
After a blatant terrorist attack on the Pentagon, and the resulting new war on terror, private military contractor Kyle Norris (Sizemore) facilitates the development of a bio-mechanical weapons program by Professor Clarence Peterson (Rourke). The next-gen program allows soldiers to swap consciousness with a target, giving them temporary, yet complete, control. While the program was intended to combat terrorists and safe guard American soldiers, abuse has been rampant. Enter down-and-out Detective Walker (Messner), who unwittingly stumbles upon the failing bio-weapons program, and he's forced to fight to both shut it down and protect his young family from those who'll stop at nothing to keep things moving forward.
Timothy Woodward Jr., the producer/director behind the recent action films Checkmate, starring Danny Glover, Sean Astin and Vinne Jones and 4Got10 starring Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo, Vivica Fox and Johnny Messner, delivers a non-stop genre film that delivers both thrills and a shocking twist of an ending that'll keep audiences guessing until the credits roll. Taylor Cole ("CSI: Miami" and "The Glades") and Michael Paré also co-star; bonus features include deleted scenes.
"WEAPONIZED gave us the unique opportunity to combine fast-paced action with an intellectual scientific element that really makes you think. With the plot being set in the future, we were able to really use our imagination and create our own world, making the storytelling more exciting and challenging," said Woodward Jr.