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Monday, March 3, 2008

Cannes gets another aging action star?

Saying his "body looks like 30, but face looks like 50," Jean-Claude Van Damme announced to MTV that his film "J.C.V.D." will "premiere at Cannes."

While the question of whether it will premiere at the festival, in the market, or in an Airstream trailer wasn't answered, JCVD did claim it was the best film he's ever done:

It was well-written by Mabrouk El Mechri. They call him "the new Besson." He wrote a script about a guy who was arrested too many times in the U.S. Being drunk, my [character's] life was from success to failure. And this guy is now leaving the States to refresh himself, to go back to Brussels to see his parents. He's got no money and he's looking for any type of movie to pay his lawyers for child custody.

And then he shows up in a post office where a heist is happening, and people think I'm part of it. And then it becomes very "Dog Day Afternoon."

I think it's the best film I've done in my career. I didn't take any salary for it. I've got to respect my fanbase, the people who made me famous, but I'm trying to bring them something different. With me playing me, it was a very shocking experience. When I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't able to function for a few days. After 37 movies, I said, "I will never do another movie I would not like." What Mabrouk did to me, it's like Scorsese did to De Niro years ago. It's a very different picture for Jean-Claude Van Damme.

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About The Circuit
Mike Jones Michael Jones is the film festival editor at Variety.com.

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