PHOEBE GALLAGHER
Jean-Claude Van Damme’s about to do dance his legs around Sly’s face in “The Expendables” sequel, out in a couple of weeks; You’ll have heard by now the actor mention how much he loved playing the bad guy in the manly-men pic. But it looks like JC won’t just be chasing more villain roles in the future, he’s also seemingly rather keen on sequels.
NextMovie recently spoke to the muscles from Brussels who said he and “Double Impact” co-writer/director Sheldon Lettich are trying to get a sequel off the ground. Don’t get too excited just yet though, the rights to the original 1991 film (in which Van Damme plays twins) have to be worked out first, and there’s also the little matter of the movie needing to be financed.
“I wrote the script with a friend of mine Sheldon – He [co-wrote] “Bloodsport” and “Double Impact” with me,” Van Damme told the site. “Hopefully, somebody smart enough, like an agent or a producer, can put that back together…I’m excited about it, you know?”
“Double Impact’ [would be] a great franchise,” Van Damme went on, explaining how he thinks his twin characters Chad and Alex might have evolved. “Today, Chad would be like the guy in ‘JCVD’ and Alex would be the guy like ‘The Expendables.'”
“I came up with a great story set in Los Angeles. [Chad] is a producer, making pictures with a big house behind him. Alex is gonna go on vacation and has some problems with the Triads. Why? Because Chad went to Hong Kong and to get some loan money using [Alex’s] face, all of that bulls**t. And Alex comes [to Los Angeles] to see Chad and he’s full of s**t, has a girl pregnant, and she’s the sister of the big boss from South Central. It’s like ‘Double Impact’ in Los Angeles.”
But, believe us, it’s a lot better than it sounds – because apparently Van Damme’s summary was shortened for the article.
Over at VanDammeFan.net, Lettich clarified Van Damme’s comments, saying that the superstar’s comments on the film were truncated, and added that although some of the movie would be set in L.A, it would also take place in Hong Kong.
For financial reasons, they had “been discussing the possibility of filming most of the movie in China, with maybe a week in L.A. for exteriors”, Lettich says of the filming locale.
As for where the ‘twins’ are at in the movie? “You folks will just have to trust JC and myself for understanding where they would be 25 years later. There are some key elements and key characters in the new story that JC did not mention, and hopefully he won’t put any more spoilers out there. ”
Lettich says the film is still a ways off, and not just because of the rights and financial issues.
“To be quite honest, right now there doesn’t seem to be any solid financing in place, and there are still issues with the rights. Maybe this might change after EX2 opens.Regardless, I’m currently committed to filming “Metro Dog” in Moscow at the beginning of next year. ”
Meanwhile, Lettich suggested Van Damme has been approached about playing one of the lead roles in “Metro Dog”.
Van Damme has a role in another upcoming sequel, “Universal Soldier : Day of Reckoning”.
