Of Course Jean-Claude Van Damme Went Method On The Set Of Expendables 2
Some time after turning down a role in 2010?s Expendables (the part he was offered lacked substance, legend has it) Jean-Claude Van Damme thought better of opting out of the Sylvester Stallone throwback, which went onto become a hit. But perhaps things worked out for the best: In this week?s Expendables 2, Van Damme steals away with the spotlight as the eccentric and hilariously disdainful uber-villain Jean Vilain (yes, really) with an over-the-top performance that called for full commitment to character on set.
At least, Van Damme believed his turn as Vilain required cultivating an icy rapport with his fellow action veterans on set. And so as Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Co. chummed it up during filming, the Muscles from Brussels stayed in character so well he only made nice after the bulk of filming wrapped.
?I said to [Sylvester] Stallone, 'How do you want me as a villain? Do you want me, like, an extravagant villain, or do you want a guy who's completely serious and believes in what he's doing and why he's doing that,'" Van Damme recalled to journalists recently in Los Angeles. ?Then I said, 'By the way — why am I doing that?' and he said, 'Because you love money.' I said, 'Fine.' So, I became that type of villain.?
So committed was Van Damme to Vilain?s persona, he even found himself sneering at the crew. ?When I saw all those cameras around me, I said, 'Who are those bunch of clowns looking at us with those lenses and the lights and everything?' I was really into the atmosphere of Expendables.?
When it came to treating his peers and personal heroes like enemies, Van Damme…
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