Albert Pyun, Cult Filmmaker Behind ‘Cyborg,’ ‘Nemesis’ and ‘Captain America,’ Dies at 69



By J. Kim Murphy

Albert Pyun, a genre filmmaker whose sweeping framework of labour includes cult favorites inclusive of “Cyborg,” “The Sword and the Sorcerer,” “Nemesis” and the 1989 “Captain America,” died Saturday successful Las Vegas, Nev. He was 69 years vintage.

Pyun were diagnosed with a mates of sclerosis and dementia a fewer years successful the past. In the beyond months, his woman and manufacturer, Cynthia Curnan, were sharing periodic updates connected his condition. More recently, she implored enthusiasts to proportionality non-public messages with the manager aft his fittingness began to decline.

Curnan showed Pyun’s nonaccomplishment of beingness done Facebook, writing “I sat with him for his past enactment that appeared similar helium changed into liberating the load of the sector.” 

Largely operating underneath debased budgets for an immediate-to-video marketplace, Pyun precocious an immersive signifier of dreamy lighting fixtures, enactment up-apocalyptic dilapidation and surreal, balletic enactment that located an enthusiastic pursuing amongst genre movie audiences. Over a filmmaking vocation spanning 4 a agelong time, Pyun teamed with a veritable who’s who of enactment icons, which see Jean-Claude Van Damme, Christopher Lambert and Burt Reynolds, successful summation to different collaborators specified arsenic Snoop Dogg, Charlie Sheen, Ice-T, Lance Henriksen, Ronny Cox, Kris Kristofferson, James Coburn, Rutger Hauer and Dennis Hopper.

Born May 19, 1953 successful Hawaii, Pyun changed into raised arsenic a subject toddler, dwelling connected bases internationally earlier than his ellipse of relatives settled again wrong the Rainbow State. After viewing 1 among his little films, Japanese histrion Toshiro Mifune invited Pyun to service arsenic an intern connected the manufacturing of Akira Kurosawa’s 1975 diagnostic “Derzu Uzula.” After Mifune exited the undertaking, Pyun arsenic an alternate worked connected the accumulation of 1 of the actor’s TV series, receiving tutelage from Kurosawa’s mean cinematographer Takao Saito.

After returning to Hawaii to movie commercials, Pyun got present to Los Angeles. He released his movie assemblage successful 1982 with the excessive phantasy epic “The Sword and the Sorcerer.” Working connected a $four cardinal terms range, the diagnostic go an not going concern success, grossing $40 cardinal astatine the tract office. 

Developing a adjacent courting with Cannon Pictures, Pyun turned into valued for his quality to equine imaginitive productions with little turnarounds. Through the 1990’s, helium directed greater than 20 diagnostic movies, unneurotic with his four-component “Nemesis” postulation and the 1990 “Captain America,” which changed into the archetypal characteristic-duration live-movement adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero.

After the flip of the millennium, Pyun started retired to self-fund his initiatives, generating films on with “Road to Hell,” “Bulletface” and “Invasion.” Late successful life, the manager persevered processing and tinkering with ongoing originative endeavors astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic maintaining aesculapian remedy.

According to his wife, Pyun had been moving connected unfinished features earlier than his demise, hoping to rework the projects close into a six-component TV series. “To Albert, nonaccomplishment has successful nary mode been an choice,” she wrote.

Pyun is survived by means of his spouse, Cynthia Curnan.