Yesterday we brought you the American trailer for Jean-Claude Van Damme‘s JCVD. Damme wrote, directed and is starring in his latest project Full Love, along with his two children Kristopher and Bianca Van Varenberg. The movie is filming in Thailand with a $5 million budget. From what I understand, Van Damme is supposedly working for next to nothing or scale, compared to his normal multi-million dollar asking price. Twitch Film have gotten their hands on the first photos
Cinema Blend describes the script as “a heavy drama with romantic elements, in the vein of True Romance, without the clever dialogue.” The story follows Frenchy, a man who tries to free a Turkish whore with whom he is in love with, from her pimp. His best friend, “a bitter, crippled, alcoholic veteran of the Iraq war” ends up pissed at Frenchy for falling in love with someone from ‘over there’. Van Damme himself describes the film the project as “based on a true story, based in another reality” and “about love, friendship, and dedication.”
I’m not so sure about the film’s plot, but one thing is for sure, Van Damme is doing one hell of a job in an attempt to reinvent himself and revive his career.
When I first heard about JCVD, I imagined a b-list action comedy like My Name is Bruce. When I finally saw the film at Fantastic Fest in Austin, I was shocked to find that the film is actually a character drama about a down on his luck b-list action star who steps into a bad situation. It’s a movie about a guy who plays the hero on the big screen, but not in real life, and what happens when he is put in a situation which forces him to step up. The most surprising thing about JCVD is that it totally goes against every preconception you have about Jean-Claude Van Damme. You might even leave the theater talking about his performance. Seriously. The American trailer for the film was released on Yahoo over the weekend. Watch it below and tell me what you think in the comments.
Official Plot Synopsis: Being Jean-Claude Van Damme is tough. Sure, he is an internationally recognized celebrity (and possibly the world’s most famous Belgian), but this star seems to have fallen from grace with a recent history of direct-to-video flicks. But the “Muscles from Brussels” is back! In JCVD, Van Damme plays himself – with all his foibles in plain view – in this comeback story of a screen hero who has been on the receiving end of kicks that are getting harder and harder to take. Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri, JCVD is a rollicking action-comedy that explores the nature of fame.
The /Filmcast: After Dark is a recording of what happens right after The /Filmcast is over, when the kids have gone to bed and the guys feel free to speak whatever is on their minds. In other words, it’s the leftover and disorganized ramblings, mindfarts, and brain diarrhea from The /Filmcast, all in one convenient audio file. In this episode, Dave, Devindra, and Adam chat with Peter Sciretta and Alex Billington about their film festival travels (including a run-in with an irate Harvey Weinstein), assess the greatness of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Sudden Death, and debate what makes an Oscar-worthy performance. Erc D. Snider joins in on the fun as well.
Yep, another day, another brown drip of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Licasting news. Actor Neal McDonough (Minority Report, Ravenous, The Hitcher) will fill the shiny boots of the late Raul Julia in the role of the video game adaptation’s muscled militant villain M. Bison (below, nice likeness). McDonough joins a short bus that includes Michael Clark Duncan as Balrog, Chris Klein as Nash, and Smallville‘s Kristin Kreuk as the lightning fast gal with the, uh, pinwheel kick. This movie is going to rock so hard.
Discuss: Van Damme’s Street Fighter vs. Chun Li’s, who wins?
Posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
“They killed his wife ten years ago. There’s still time to save her. Murder is forever…until now.”
Our buddies at IESB are reporting that Dark Horse Entertainment and Universal are looking to go into production on a remake of Timecop. Aside from the 90′s cheese and Jean-Claude Van Damme, the movie is a guilty pleasure of a lot of film fanatics.
The film broke $100 million worldwide (Van-Damme’s highest grossing film of all time) and spun off into a short lived television series (nine episodes on ABC in 1997). In 2003, a direct-to-dvd sequel titled Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision starring Jason Scott Lee and Thomas Ian Griffith was released.
In the original film, Van Damme played a Time Enforcement Agent, part of a specialized police organization. Conflicted because he knows it is possible to prevent his wife’s death, however his job as a Time Enforcement Agent prevents him from acting on such a prevention.
The concept is better than the sum of its parts, and with a good screenwriter, it could be a summer tentpole film. Hopefully they won’t go all B-movie on us. The good news is that Van-Damme is not being brought back for the reboot, and that IESB claims that the actor currently circling the role is “100% bad ass and one of the coolest action stars of today.”
“They killed his wife ten years ago. There’s still time to save her. Murder is forever…until now.”
