Après Vous, Monsieur Danseur

 I think he had the best job in the world, back in the 1980s to the 1990s.

It was his heyday.

He was famous and had pronounced manly looks, coupled with a muscular frame. He moved in classy circles, shot films here in Hong Kong and in Hollywood, maintaining residences here and there, and even in Belgium, his homeland.

Best of all, most of his movies were box-office winners, never mind if they were formulaic, to a certain degree. 

I mean, even his most rock solid fan has to admit that executing those splits and high kicks didn't really require much by way of Shakespearean acting skills.

But yes, in those times, he was king of the world (long before Leonardo spread his arms and proclaimed it for all the world and the fish in the ocean to hear).

Then the bubble burst. For some strange reason, he wasn't in vogue anymore, and his huge fan base seemed to have imploded in on itself.

What happened, Jean-Claude Van Damme?

I'm not much of a Perez Hilton-type, but Van Damme has intrigued me for such a long time (I've always wanted to be a kickboxer but always wimped out at the last minute hahaha) that I did some research to find out more about him so I could write this  (Thank you, Google, IMDB and Duckduckgo. How would I ever survive without you?).

Okay, so here's the nitty-gritty. 

He was born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg in Brussels, Belgium in 1960. His father made him take up martial arts because he looked weak, as a child. The stage name "Van Damme" came from a friend of his father and he adopted it as his own because the name was "punchy, short and clear,"  compared to his birth name.

I have no doubt that a decision like that was one of the factors that helped to propel Van Damme on the road to Hollywood fame. Whether or not it was also intentional on his part to leave out the names "Camille François" in his billing is a matter for further investigation.

Nevertheless, it was definitely a good move being billed as Jean-Claude Van Damme, later on getting tagged with the nickname "Muscles from Brussels."

Even if Van Damme takes no great pleasure in the nickname, he has gone on record that he prefers it to being called "The Idiot From Brussels."

Hahaha. That kind of humor, I could definitely understand.

This man, I can understand.

Probably, it's because, like Van Damme, I also studied ballet for a bit. No, wait, hold on. I didn't! Listen to me, I was just joking! I just wanted to put that part in, in a charmingly witty way. Okay? Okay?

Anyway, it's true about Van Damme taking up ballet. He was 16 when he started, and he studied it for five years. Again, he is on record for saying that ballet is not just an art form, but a type of sport, a very rigorous one, at that. 

That agility he developed while doing pirouttes could be behind those breathtaking 360-degree leaping turns that he used to make when he was much younger, and which I'm sure was hugely instrumental in helping to propel his salary from the measly US$250.00 that he made in 1986 as the antagonist in the movie No Retreat, No Surrender (one of the first Hong Kong-U.S. crossover films ever made) to the US$8,000,000.00 he got for the tole of Col. Guile in 1994's Street Fighter.

Now, stop for a minute and think about what you just read. 1986 = 250 US dollars. 1994= 8,000,000.00

From earning almost nothing to raking in millions in just 8 years? And getting to that point by executing those splits and ballet-like leaps  and turning them into iconic action moves?

Who else in the world can lay claim to such things happening in their lives?

So, back to the original question. He had everything in his hands, then his world collapsed. His marriage broke-up, he figured in a highly-publicized affair with a Filipina actress-talent manager that he met in Hong Kong, and lost most of his fan base after starring in a series of so-so films. Why?

Well, maybe it was because he  had lived the typical Hollywood star lifestyle. You know, too fast, too furious, too much, too soon. 

And if he had been made of lesser stuff, that would have been the end of him.

But no. Just like John Travolta, Van Damme has resurrected his career. He has also placed his personal life in order, remarrying longtime love and the mother of his children, lady bodybuilder Gladys Portugues.

And departing from tradition, he  is currently a star of Expendables 2, no longer a hero, but a villain, named Jean Villain, no less.

I'm telling you, this guy and his life is one huge big sense of humor, personified.

After you, Mr. Dancer... you've earned my admiration.

 

Welcome to an opinion piece by David Garcia.

 Got something to say? Feel free to comment. :)

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