Summary
- Jean-Claude Van Damme is described as “strange” and “amazing” in real life, living a double life as a film star and secret agent, just like his character in the miniseries Jean-Claude Van Johnson.
- Van Damme had emotional breakthroughs while working on The Afterparty, a surreal experience that combined elements of his real life and past with a fictional narrative.
- Despite his fame and adoration from fans, Van Damme is praised for being gracious and genuinely decent, proving that he has remained a admirable person throughout his career.
While chatting with ComicBook.com in promotion of the second season of Apple TV+’s The Afterparty, Jean-Claude Van Johnson director Peter Atencio opened about Jean-Claude Van Damme and revealed that the ’90s action star was “everything you would want him to be.”
Van Damme is known for his films like Double Impact, Double Team, and Kickboxer. After his success as an action star started to slow down, Van Damme kept a low profile before returning with the 2008 meta action-crime film JCVD, which starred the Time Cop actor as a fictionalized version of himself who gets caught up in a bank robbery. More recently, the Street Fighter actor has appeared in franchise such as The Expendables and Kung Fu Panda.
Van Damme has also starred in comedy dramas like the miniseries Jean-Claude Van Johnson, which saw the star portray a fictionalized version of the real-life Van Damme who lives a double life as both a film star and a secret agent.
While speaking to the outlet, The Machine director opened up about working with the actor and revealed that in real life, Van Damme is just as “strange” and “amazing” as he seems. Atencio said:
“Oh my Gosh, yeah. He’s a character. He’s just kind of everything you would want him to be. He really is that strange and that amazing, and he’s in just incredible shape but also he’s just out there. There was one day in particular I’ll never forget. Doing that show for him, it was such a surreal experience because Dave was taking things from his real life and his real past and mixing it with this narrative. It was like half wish fulfillment, half brutal self-reflection.”
Jean-Claude Van Damme Was Convinced That His Show Was Actually “An Intervention”
Atencio went on to elaborate more on his time spent working with Van Damme. He said:
“One day he came up to me on set, and he was dead serious, and he just grabbed me by the shoulders and was like, ‘Peter, be honest with me, there is no show. This is an intervention, yes?’ And I was like, ‘I hate to break it to you, Jean-Claude, but there is definitely a show that we’re making. This is not just a therapy session for you.’ But he had emotional breakthroughs on that show. It was a wild experience but he was a lot of fun to work with.”
Atencio then stated, “He’s totally worth meeting. He is completely insane, and weird, but also he’s the real deal. He lives a life, he gets in his Bentley convertible with like three dogs in the back and goes to Gold’s Gym every day and works out. He’s super committed, and everywhere you go with him, people come up to him and they’re like, ‘You’re my hero. You’re the reason I did this,’ or ‘You changed my life.'”
The director added, “And he’s incredibly gracious. Nobody loves their fans more than him. He’s really a sweet person. I think for somebody to have all that adoration and still make it through and still be a genuinely decent person, that’s pretty admirable.”
The first season of Jean-Claude Van Johnson is available on Prime Video, while The Afterparty is currently airing its second season on Apple TV+.
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