Sarajevo '84 Olympic "Sasha" Track Jacket (Version 1 Overrun)

In 1995, pilot Scott O'Grady was flying his F-16 on a mission during the Bosnian war, when his aircraft was destroyed by an SA-6 Missile.

He survived by successfully ejecting from the aircraft, but was forced to spend nearly a week evading local military forces before he could be rescued by US Marines.

He wasn't approached to consult on the making of Behind Enemy Lines, nor was he paid for the rights to his story. As one could imagine, lawsuits ensued and "Behind Enemy Lines" would later be presented as the story of a different person in a very similar set of circumstances...

Ultimately the film's legacy hasn't been kind to its hero. Sasha Ivanic is such cool villain that despite having almost no lines, he completely steals the show.

Vladmir Mashkov, the actor playing Sasha, left such a lasting impression on audiences that he shaped Eastern European villains and anti-heros for years to come.

The protagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV, Niko Bellic, was based almost entirely on Sasha — Rockstar Games even intended to cast him for the role. GTA IV would go on to be one of the most celebrated video games in history, firmly cementing post-USSR "Slav" culture in the minds of millions.

The Olympic games during the Cold War were notorious for boycotts organized by dozens of countries up through the 1980s.

Melbourne '56, Tokyo '64, Canada '76, and particularly the Moscow Olympics in 1980 were all mired in international politics.

But in 1984, for the winter Olympics in Yugoslavia, there was a distinct (and welcome) lack of boycotts.

As a result the Sarajevo games had highest rate of participation of any Olympics during the Cold War. Unfortunately this moment of hope and unity was short-lived.

Civil war would divide Yugoslavia less than a decade later.

By late 2001, the Former-Soviet-Bloc countries were still in disarray, and 'War On Terror' was in full-swing.

In this post 9/11 world, films about the horrors of the Vietnam war, or the spy games of the Cold War just didn't resonate. So, the way action movie antagonists were written had to evolve...

Real-world unknowns and fears drive how we write stories; whether it's a humanitarian crisis inspiring movies about invading aliens from outer space, or zombies representing our fears around epidemics & disease.

Villains like Sasha Ivanic embodied this new era of guerilla tactics and hazy or mysterious motivations. Much like the terrorist groups feared by the public, there was no telling what they'd do next, or why.

Sasha's Jacket begged some unknowns: Could Sasha have been an Olympian at Sarajevo? What was he really fighting for, or for whom? We never found out, but it's part of what makes him so frightening and believable.