I signed him up and we made the film Blade. And same again with Stephen Norrington – no-one knew his work either. It was like that with Emmerich when too when I worked on Universal Soldier (editor’s note: his biggest box-office hit) – at the time, he was just another German director and completely unknown. They gave me a month to write the script on a shoestring. Honestly, I don’t see it that way – I took a risk with John Woo when he was still relatively unknown in Hard Target back in 1993. You’ve worked with some international directors – French, American, German and Chinese. Well…it’s such a great job! You have to work non-stop, yes but I’m lucky enough to make films in France and also in the US, getting the call up from both sides, which is amazing! Here in Paris, there is so much culture. But you know, some virus can think, and know who to attack. Since then, I’ve been able to return to Belgium, France and Italy. I stayed there and I was lucky (not to catch the virus). Australia was one of the first countries to be affected. People already had COVID, like Tom Hanks. But I told myself – we’re going to go there.

The world panicked and everything was cancelled. I travel by private plane, so the time passes quickly and I’m not afraid of COVID. I live in Hong Kong and am used to travelling everywhere – Australia, LA, Turkey and Armenia. The filming lasted 54 days, over 10 weeks – how did you cope? She knows that this is the best place to eat!’ he laughs, casually helping himself to some chocolate as he opens up to us about his latest venture. Today, the ‘Muscles from Brussels’ is seated in a comfortable armchair with Lola, his precious tiny 7-year-old dog. His career first skyrocketed in 1988 with Blood Sport, followed by Kickboxer, Full Contact and Double Impact, right up to the cult-classic JCVD in 2007, where he played himself, as well as The Expendables 2 where he joined forces with other famous action heroes. With a career spanning 36 years (and counting!), he has experienced it all: the struggles, glory and riches – as well as a few ups-and-downs. When I spoke about mobile phones back in 2001, people took me for an idiot.’ JCVD has also growing up : ‘I pay more attention to what I say now. With his instantly recognisable voice, JCVD is more “aware” than ever, with a huge fan base surprinsingly ranging from 7 to 77. We meet to discuss his latest action-packed film, The Last Mercenary, due for release on Netflix worldwide from the 30th July and, already set to be the next big hit.

Jean claude van damme films