When Jean-Claude Van Damme played Predator
Ryan Lambie Jul 6, 2016
In 1986, Jean-Claude Van Damme was the title alien in Predator before he was hurriedly recast. Ryan looks back at what happened...
In the mid-1980s, Belgian martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme arrived in America with dreams of stardom. Possessing a finely-honed physique, thanks to years of training in (among other things) karate, kickboxing and ballet, he was ambitious and brimming with self-belief.
The acting bug bit Van Damme while he was still in his teens: he played “a bad guy with all the knives” in the 1984 French gangster movie Rue Barbare and, determined to further his goal of becoming an actor, hopped on a plane to Los Angeles. His first few years in America were, however, tough. He slept in a rental car for two weeks, and made money by teaching aerobics and martial arts, delivering pizzas, and working as a doorman at a restaurant belonging to Chuck Norris.
In 1986, Jean-Claude Van Damme was the title alien in Predator before he was hurriedly recast. Ryan looks back at what happened...
In the mid-1980s, Belgian martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme arrived in America with dreams of stardom. Possessing a finely-honed physique, thanks to years of training in (among other things) karate, kickboxing and ballet, he was ambitious and brimming with self-belief.
The acting bug bit Van Damme while he was still in his teens: he played “a bad guy with all the knives” in the 1984 French gangster movie Rue Barbare and, determined to further his goal of becoming an actor, hopped on a plane to Los Angeles. His first few years in America were, however, tough. He slept in a rental car for two weeks, and made money by teaching aerobics and martial arts, delivering pizzas, and working as a doorman at a restaurant belonging to Chuck Norris.
- 10/21/2014
- Den of Geek
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