Trivia / Jean-Claude Van Damme

• Acting for Two: It's quite common for him to play multiple characters in his films. Seanbaby once noted in a cinematic retrospective that "Jean-Claude Van Damme is unwillingly involved in karate-filled circumstances by a second Jean-Claude Van Damme" is practically a standardized format for JCVD movie plots.
• The Cast Showoff:
  • His early films featured him doing the full leg split at least once.
  • When doing the videogame Street Fighter: The Movie, he came up with a number of moves for Guile that were not in the original games. One of those moves is, you guess it, a punch from a full split position.
• Fake Nationality: As per usual with the foreign action stars. Most famously in Street Fighter. Funnily enough, some films actually try to offer an in-universe explanation for his thick Belgian French accent by having his character hail from some French-speaking part of the world, but rather than opting for his native Belgium, they tend to go with places like Quebec or Louisiana (where people don't have such accent).
• Romance on the Set: With Kylie Minogue while filming Street Fighter. His wife at the time didn't know about it, until his public confession in 2012.
• Star-Making Role: Bloodsport.
• What Could Have Been:
  • He was originally set to portray the first Predator, when the original intention with the character was supposed to be quick and ninja-like. He was not very happy with the working conditions (hot suit in hot conditions) and the fact his face would never been seen led him to leave and be recast.
  • He was offered a role in the first The Expendables, but he refused. It was after seeing the film that he regretted the decision, so he appeared in the second one.
  • He was also considered to play Gambit in the first X-Men film, the main villain of Rush Hour 3 and Michael Ceritto in Heat.
  • He was the inspiration for Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat and was supposed to play the part in the film version. He chose Street Fighter instead.

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