JCVD (2008)

Jean-Claude Van Damme gets involved in a bank robbery with hostages situation and reflects about his life during it.

Director:

Mabrouk El Mechri

Writers:

Mabrouk El Mechri (scenario), Frédéric Benudis (in collaboration with)

Stars:

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Valérie Bodson, Hervé Sogne

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	JCVD
Valérie Bodson	...	Veuve Film Budapest
Hervé Sogne	...	Lieutenant Smith
Rock Chen	...	Réalisateur asiatique
Huifang Wang	...	Traductrice asiatique
John Flanders	...	Avocat ex-Femme
Renata Kamara	...	Juge Tribunal Los Angeles
Mourade Zeguendi	...	Client Vidéo club
Vincent Lecuyer	...	Vendeur Vidéo Club
Jenny De Chez	...	Taxiwoman JCVD
Patrick Steltzer	...	Policier 1
Bernard Eylenbosch	...	Technicien Telecom
François Damiens	...	Bruges
Pascal Lefebvre	...	Képi 2
Jacky Lambert	...	Képi 3

Storyline

Between his tax problems and his legal battle with his wife for the custody of his daughter, these are hard times for the action movie star who finds that even Steven Seagal has pinched a role from him! In JCVD, Jean-Claude Van Damme returns to the country of his birth to seek the peace and tranquility he can no longer enjoy in the United States.

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Plot Keywords:

filmmaking | entire title is capitalized acronym | actor playing himself | actor name in title | brussels belgium | 

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Taglines:

Be Aware

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some violence

Details

Official Sites:

Asmik Ace Entertainment [Japan] Atlantic Film [Sweden]

Country:

Belgium Luxembourg France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

4 June 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

Ж.К.В.Д.

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Box Office

Budget:

€10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

€524,109 (France), 8 June 2008, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,119, 9 November 2008, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$470,691, 18 January 2009

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gaumont, Samsa Film, Artémis Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The whole scene in the taxi is completely improvised. Mabrouk El Mechri told Jean-Claude Van Damme to just be nice to the driver no matter what she said.

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Goofs

In the court room the attorney says, "How does this actor play Death? Let me count the ways: mangled under the wheels of a truck, strangulation, fracturing the skull, taking out the tibula..." There is no anatomic structure named tibula. The lower leg is made of two bones, the tibia and fibula. It is a common mistake of people who do not know anatomy to say tibula.

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Quotes

JCVD: Once in the film "Hard Target", I took a shot from a blank. It took salts to reanimate me.
Arthur: "Hard Target"! John Woo! What an ass!
JCVD: Don't say that!
Arthur: C'mon, Jean-Claude, wait a sec!
[to the hostages, referring to Van Damme]
Arthur: He's the one who brought him to the US. Without him, he'd still be filming pigeons in Hong Kong!
[to Van Damme]
Arthur: And then what? He drops you!
JCVD: At least, he did "Face/Off".
Arthur: So what? He could've picked you!
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The Gaumont title sequence begins with a silhouetted boy picking up a sunflower, but he is met by a silhouetted Jean-Claude Van Damme, who attempts to grab the sunflower from him. When the boy refuses to let go of the sunflower, Van Damme gives him a roundhouse kick before kicking the sunflower up into space, where it grows into the Gaumont logo.

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Connections

References A Crime (2006)

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Soundtracks

None Of Us Are Free
(Barry Mann (as Mann) / Cynthia Weil (as Weil) / Brenda Russell (as Russell))
© Dyad Music / Geffen Music
Represented by Sony / ATV Music Publishing / Universal Music Publishing
Performed by Mabrouk El Mechri
(p) 2008 GAUMONT

User Reviews

The lost son returns

There once was a naive young men from the slums of Brussels full of hope and passionate with love seeking his way in life and making his dreams come true by becoming a Hollywood movie star. Boy oh boy, did things turn out to be different from what he expected. After once being type-casted as a martial arts B-movie star, he became easily outdated and in time just food for ridicule. After being walked all over by numerous people he trusted, including the women he loved, and after allowing one of these women to get him introduced to an illegal and addictive substance, he continued to do downhill.

The rise from a simple Belgian boy to Hollywood movie star and the subsequent fall from grace turned the once naive young man into a wise old man. Having seen much of the world and lived both a life of poverty and pain as well as a life of luxury and hedonism, this man has seen it all and done it all. And now he's back with a vengeance.

Of course, the man I'm talking about is Jean-Claude van Damme. Disappointed about the rats and vultures that populate Hollywood, he decided to go back to his roots, pay respects to his homeland and hope he's still welcome there to attempt a new career in movies. And boy oh boy, his first attempt seems promising.

Jean-Claude van Damme showed the world he can actually act and he made sure that everyone watching this film understands why he was involved. His disgust towards the media and the Hollywood movie industry just radiate from this film, but not in arrogance but rather in all modesty and with regret, clinging on to the values and principles once taught to him by his parents and his Karate teacher when he was still a little boy living in Brussels. As a fellow Belgian, I pay respect to this man and hope his second movie career will be better than his first.

Bonne chance, Jean-Claude.