Born American is a 1986 film directed by Renny Harlin

Renny Harlin

Renny Harlin is a Finnish-American film director and producer. He is best known for Die Hard 2 , Cliffhanger , The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea...

. It was a feature length action movie about three Americans vacationing in Finland who cross the border into the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. It was originally supposed to star Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris

Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...

 but he backed out when filming was delayed by funding problems and his son, Mike Norris

Mike Norris (actor)

Michael R. "Mike" Norris is an American actor who has acted in over two dozen films. He is the son of the more famous actor and martial arts champion Chuck Norris. He starred in the 1986 drama film Born American and the 1991 action film Delta Force 3: The Killing Game...

, landed the lead instead. A Finnish production, this was at that the time the most expensive film ever to have been made in Finland. The Finnish government banned the movie, because of promotion of extreme hatred against Russian nationality. The success of the film in the United States allowed Harlin to get his foot in the door in Hollywood

Cinema of the United States

The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

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