- It's OK. - Sorry about the sweating. OK.
Welcome to the show. Thanks for doing the show.
- What's the name of your show? - The Feed. It's on SBS.
- The Faith? - The Feed.
- The Fade... F...
- F-E-E-D. - OK, OK.
..is his name but you know him better as...
..guy who can do this with his legs...
But Jean-Claude Van Damme's life hasn't just been
roundhouse kicking bad guys and straddling Volvos.
He's had five marriages, he's bipolar,
he once was addicted to cocaine
and he was even homeless for a time.
He's a man who's had a lot of ups and a lot of downs.
So can I get you to take me right back to the beginning?
16 years old, doing martial arts fights against, what is it,
35-year-old guys? Was that terrifying?
25, 24, but they look like 35.
At that time martial art was just starting in Europe.
I was one of the youngest kids in the club.
I wanted to spar with them and I stretch a lot.
But I was very skinny when I came.
Was it ever an advantage being so skinny?
Ah, it can be because you've got to fight in a sense
your own self, your body, to become better.
It's an example to be with strongest people, you know.
What is it that most people don't understand
in terms of how much preparation...
and how much planning...
goes into making a really great fight scene?
It's kind of insights you in terms of I need to find the space
where we're fighting first
and to use some objects depending what type of film it is too,
if it's a marital arts film then we have so many good martial art guys,
artists and ladies, that you need something more,
you need to have a relationship with the camera,
the audience, you know?
There's something out there waiting for us.
And it ain't no man.
There's a famous story that's been around for a very long time
that you turned down the movie Predator
cos you didn't want to have your face covered, is that true?
No, I was in the outfit but it didn't work so well
in terms of physicality, it was not...
it was well built but kind of dangerous
because my feet were in the calves of the animal
and my finger were in the forearms
so I was having cables to... and it was very hot basically.
They didn't have a cooler system.
- Where you been, man? - I'm retired.
Not like Nicholas Cage retired.
Oh, I thought you WERE Nicholas Cage.
And you've got this pilot right now on Amazon
where you're playing a spy and a washed up version of yourself.
What is the idea, where did it come from?
Um, I said to myself,
I was travelling around the world with those movie producers
and they were smart guy, you know, and I see those guys are too smart
and they get authorisation to go all over the place.
Maybe they are some sorts of Mossad
because all those producers were from... Israeli producers
so I said, maybe these guys are spy.
Too smart to be a producer, he's going in and out
so I started to write something...
Born out of your own, like, paranoia.
He wants me to die, except for all the people I'm going to kill.
What do you reckon, as you go round to meet different people,
they have a perception of you that's built on movies...
What do you reckon is the most misunderstood part of Jean-Claude?
Um, I think they don't know how sensitive and emotional I am.
I came on the stage
and it's first for me it's like contact with the people
and I know on each camera
you've got thousands of, lots of people watching
and I can feel like I don't want to make any mistake.
Do you feel the pressure when there are cameras on you?
Yeah, because I like to do everything...
not perfect, that doesn't exist...
but to be as best as possible and that, it's no good.
Have you always been that way,
feeling that pressure to be perfect, to get it right?
- Yeah. - Where does it start, do you think?
It start when I was very young, you know,
because martial arts, always fighting,
fighting to become better and better.
And my first love affair was a total disaster.
- Really? - It was a double whammy.
So that helped too, you know?
- Thank you so much for your time. - It was nice to meet you.
- What is your name? - Mark. And the name of your TV station?
- The Feed. - The Feed.
Hi, this is Jean-Claude Van Damme on the Feed. Yeah!
Well, that's me...
That is incredible, thank you so much!