Seagal to Bring Hollywood Celebrities, Build Buddhist Temple in Serbia

After receiving Serbian citizenship, US actor Steven Seagal plans to keep busy: he plans to develop Serbian cinematography, promote martial arts and even build an ancient Buddhist temple in Belgrade, Seagal told Sputnik in an exclusive interview.

Over the past weekend, Seagal was granted Serbian citizenship after the country's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic signed a special decree on January 8. The decision came after Seagal made several visits to the country over the past few months.

Seagal has big plans for Serbia. He said he asked for Serbian citizenship because he plans to develop the country.

"I can do a lot here… I really want to bring Hollywood to Serbia. I want to bring the whole film community here. I want to build great, sort of a Hollywood-film infrastructure here," Seagal told Sputnik.

In Seagal's opinion, Serbia has a great variety of different landscapes that would allow filmmakers to shoot any scenes in the country.

At the same time, Seagal wants to take charge of Aikido in Serbia. Seagal has practiced the Japanese martial art since he was seven years old, and has used his abilities many times in movies. Previously, it was reported that Seagal, who is an Aikido 7th Dan Black Belt, was invited to train Serbian police forces in Aikido.

Lastly, Seagal said he was extremely interested in the restoration of Europe's oldest Buddhist temple, allegedly built by the Kalmyk people. Currently, Seagal is doing research and studying the fate of the Kalmyk people in Serbia. If the Kalmyks had in fact built the temple in Belgrade, then the newly naturalized Serbian citizen plans to ask the country's Prime Minister to rebuild the ancient Buddhist holy place.