Recent JC Van Damme Interview

**Despair** · 15 Apr 2003, 05:36 PM

Enjoy

ANyways this was taken from www.kungfucinema.com

Interview: Van Damme on upcoming films

04.15.2003 - (Thanks to "HamsterMan," a Kung Fu Cinema reader in Belgium who sent in this recent interview with Jean-Claude Van Damme.)

Jean-Claude Van Damme spoke to sports magazine, Sport et Vie, here in
Belgium. I like your kung fu website, so I retyped for you the interesting
bits..

AK: Were hearing rumors of a sequel to Streetfigher. Is this true?

JC: Yes we will be doing a sequel to Streetfighter. In my opinion, it is one of the finest movies of my career - lots of fun for everyone. It has [a] nice blend of action, comedy and even elements of the video game. We are casting now and some big names are interested.

AK: When we talked last, you said no sequels though?

JC: True. I didn't like doing sequels before. I always wondered why the need to go back and play a character you already have. But in this case, it's a franchise that is begging for more. The computer games are still popular, so what's to say this movie wont be?. I've passed on Time Cop sequels, and Kickboxer 2, and Bloodsport because they were the same story. Its got to be different, you know, to get my attention.

AK: How do you select your roles?

JC: There are lots of movies still to make. Some of my movies, I can admit, have not been that great. Not always my fault, sometimes I sign for films that read much different on paper than they end up. This year, we have SHU [renamed Hell] coming out and I'm doing not only Streefighter, but also The Tower, which is a really exciting thriller, and After Death, which is going to also very good. I have to please the fans you know, and I deliberately do chase movies with lots of action and martial arts. No one wants to see Jean-Claude Van Damme in Shakespeare you know?

AK: But have you ever been tempted to try something new?

JC: Yes, plenty of times. I'd like to try some more Science Fiction, something like we did with Time Cop. I'm going to definitely try and get in the next X-Men movie - that would be fun, and [I] would love to do something like an Aliens or even Terminator. One of my all-time favorite movies is The Great Escape and I've been talking to Ringo Lam [a film director] about modernizing it, and doing a remake. He
thinks it would be a great idea. It's going to be hard to get a script that will surpass the original film, because it's so great, but maybe we don't want to copy it, but to try something new with it - add more stunts, more martial arts, a different take on it - but still in the epic adventure genre.

AK: Are you worried about trying to remake such a classic movie though?

JC: Of course. That movie is beloved by many. But, as I said, if we adapt it for modern age and put a new spin on the story, people should really enjoy it. There's so many young people out there who have never discovered this film, you know!

AK: What about a comedy?

JC: In time, maybe, of course. I mean Arnold has done comedy, and so has Stallone. But they not work out the best you know. It would have to be a really good and funny film. A long ways back, after Arnold did Twins, they wanted Joe Pesci and I to do a sequel. I didn't think it would be that funny though - the joke had already been done.

AK: Your son is an actor too, yes?

JC: Yes, and becoming quite a good one. If we do Great Escape, I
told him we have a good role for him in it.

**YellerDog** · 15 Apr 2003, 05:46 PM

The Great Escape. With "more martial arts".

...

BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

**Kidnemo** · 15 Apr 2003, 05:47 PM

Originally posted by Guile
In my opinion, it is one of the finest movies of my career - lots of fun for everyone. It has [a] nice blend of action, comedy and even elements of the video game.

*snip*

...But in this case, it's a franchise that is begging for more. The computer games are still popular, so what's to say this movie wont be?

In touch with reality?

I think not.

**Dolemite** · 15 Apr 2003, 06:39 PM

Originally posted by Despair
JC: Yes we will be doing a sequel to Streetfighter. In my opinion, it is one of the finest movies of my career

**APC** · 15 Apr 2003, 07:15 PM

What's his son's name?

**Nash** · 15 Apr 2003, 08:35 PM

his son's name is christopher.

anyway, i'm looking forward to whatever he puts out. van damme is the man. anyone who can 360 spin kick like that, perform the splits between two chairs, and speak four languages fluently is awesome in my book.

**Yamcha** · 15 Apr 2003, 10:08 PM

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,2498,00.html

Van Damme Humbled by Rourke Ex-Bodyguard

by Daniel Frankel
Feb 5, 1998, 6:10 PM PT

Word spread quickly through Manhattan about a Wednesday night celebrity barroom brawl involving action star Jean-Claude Van Damme and a former bodyguard for not-much-action star Mickey Rourke.

A spokesperson for the upscale topless bar Score's--infamous hangout for the likes of Howard Stern and his cronies--confirms there were indeed fisticuffs involving the parties.

No police report was taken and no arrests were made. Publicists for both Van Damme and Rourke refused to return phone calls on Thursday.

However, Friday's New York news tabloids were breathless with details, not to mention quotes from the I-Decked-Van-Damme man himself.

"He's just a very arrogant and disrespectful person," says Chuck Zito, the ex-bodyguard (who reportedly also worked for Jean-Claude, as well as Sylvester Stallone, Sean Penn and Charlie Sheen), sometime stuntman and current president of the Hell's Angels, in the New York Post. Zito claims responsibility for the Van Damme clocking.

Trouble started when Van Damme walked into Score's with Rourke. Zito walked over to the table to shoot the breeze with his former bosses.

When Zito and Rourke turned their back on Van Damme, the Street Fighter star reputedly started dissing Zito.

"He was saying, 'Chuck Zito doesn't have any heart,'" Zito tells the newspaper. "There are people who will take that kind of abuse. I am not one of them."

So, Zito asked Van Damme to step outside. The way Zito puts it in the Daily News, the so-called Muscles from Brussels took off his glasses and was "gearing up to come at me."

"I just didn't give him a chance," Zito says.

No, he didn't. Zito floored Mr. Hard Target with a one-two suckerpunch combo.

Rourke played peacemaker: "If I weren't there, Chuck would have killed him," the actor tells the Daily News.

Van Damme left the club under his own power, reportedly signing autographs on the way out.

**Strawberry Shortcake** · 15 Apr 2003, 10:11 PM

out of all the movies he could make a sequel too, street fighter ??

of course now that i think about it none of his movies would make good sequels

maybe he should hook up with a rapper to help get his career back like Seagal did with DMX