Through the years, producer Joel Silver has helped mold a generation of action heroes. From "Lethal Weapon" to "Die Hard" to "Predator" to the "Matrix" movies, there's hardly an A-lister who doesn't owe some measure of gratitude to the 51-year-old veteran. But now, Silver's come to bury the musclebound stars of yore, not to praise them.

"Bruce [Willis] is kinda getting a little old and he's bald and Stallone's doing reality television and Schwarzenegger's governor, so we need new action stars," Silver declares boldly, running the risk of an audit on his latest California taxes.

In that spirit, Silver's new NBC reality series "Next Action Star" aims to give blockbuster cinema a much needed acting enema, scouring the country for unknown talent. "Action Star" covers the usual unscripted television bases, narrowing the field from a legion of delusional nationwide hopefuls to a pack of finalists competing in a variety of complicated screen tests and challenges. The result demystifies popcorn filmmaking, but also provides a compelling argument that being Vin Diesel is harder than it looks.

"Action filmmaking really requires skills that you have to learn," Silver says. "You have to be able to shoot a gun and do wirework and drive a car and to do fights and stunts. We have to train these people to try to do this. Plus you have to be able to act."

While all play and no work make for a reality disaster like "Forever Eden," all work and no play make for boring television, so the "Next Action Star" contestants get to live in a ritzy mansion in the Hollywood Hills, driving speedy sports cars and showing off their buff bodies in the seemingly obligatory Jacuzzi interludes.

"We wanted to say, 'If you get this and this works for you and this show works and people like you, this is a life you could potentially have,'" Silver says of the myriad perks. "We wanted to let them see that there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."

At the end of the grueling competition, the two winners -- one male and one female -- get to star in a relatively high budget telefilm "Bet Your Life," which is already in post-production. Silver insists that not only is he pleased with the results, but he'd also work with the two winners again, under the right circumstances.

"It's a real thing to win," he crows. "I'm not saying that a job with Donald Trump or a recording contract isn't something great too, but to star in a movie is a fantasy a lot of people have their whole lives."

For Silver, though, television success is the true fantasy. On the big screen, Silver has produced one hit after another (the less said about duds like "Hudson Hawk" and "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane" the better). His small screen ventures have peaked with the long-running HBO anthology series "Tales from the Crypt" and the critically adored FOX failure "Action."

"I've always had my hand in television," Silver sighs. "It's not my core business, but I need to be in this business. It's an important business for all of us. I watch television. Thank God for TiVo."

"Next Action Star" and the UPN's promising "Veronica Mars" represent Silver's latest television salvos, but perhaps the producer's spotty track record has something to do with his own tastes.

"How can you not love reality television?" he asks rhetorically. "That show last summer, 'Paradise Hotel,' I couldn't believe it. I thought I was going to read in the paper that somebody got killed down there... It's just wild to watch this stuff. It's as exciting to see that as to see 'Alias' and '24.'"

"Next Action Star," which aspires only to be as exciting as FOX's "Paradise Hotel," premieres on Monday, June 14 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.