Almost as elusive as the fountain of youth is the “Hollywood Dream” of becoming the next Jean Claude Van Damme. Sitting here in my studio in Hollywood, California I have just finished talking to another young man who has moved from Edinborough, Scotland to Hollywood where he is in pursuit of his lifetime goal of becoming a action martial arts superstar.
“I have taken Tae Kwon Do for about 3 years and I can do a full splits,” he says. He is a pretty good looking guy but he is the fourth one this week. This sparked me to talk to my good friend Jean Claude Van Damme and ask him how someone realizes the Hollywood Dream like he was able to.
JCVD – Well when I decided to go for it, I was running my karate school and weight gym in Brussels in 1983 and I decided that it was time for me to put into action all the philosophy, confidence and faith I had in myself that I had learned through training in the dojo. In a dojo, as you well know, you will never become any good unless you believe in yourself. The obvious next most important thing you need is something that many young people nowadays just do not have and that is discipline and what I call a never give up attitude. JCVD -If when you’re fighting and you get hit and you go down, you better get up or you’re in trouble, right? Well if anyone thinks that they are going to make it here in Hollywood without facing problems they are fooling themselves.
After all if it was easy everyone would do it, wouldn’t they?
I think that in Judo they have a great saying I always remembered from when I was in Belgium. “If you fall down seven times get up eight.” This is perfect if you want to make it here in Hollywood. I think it was Jigaro Kano who said that.
DW – Is there anything else that you would suggest to those young martial artists who want to take over your spot? JCVD – Well I better be careful of what I say, because some of them just might do it. Then I would be out of a job. No, I am just kidding, if I can make a suggestion that will help someone, I would be very happy. JCVD – Well I better be careful of what I say, because some of them just might do it.
Then I would be out of a job. No, I am just kidding, if I can make a suggestion that will help someone, I would be very happy.
If I wanted to be a martial arts superstar in Hollywood today I would try to determine the common denominator that has allowed others to reach the top.
For example, the number one martial arts superstar of all time was Bruce Lee. When I look back at him, I tried to model myself after him in so many ways. I would suggest to a “Hollywood want to be,” do the same. The first thing you must do is to be in absolutely perfect physical condition. This means you must really watch your diet and you must also train weights so that you look lean and cut as much as possible. Take a look at Bruce’s photos or him in “Enter The Dragon” and you will see how cut he was. His total body fat had to be about 4 percent.
He was real lean and in great shape. I did exactly the same thing. I still train hard, and before I go into a picture I increase my training and really watch my diet.
The other thing is that you must have clean technique. It is not enough just to be a good fighter. You must be able to throw a roundhouse kick that will look great on camera, and this, as we all know, comes from hours and hours of training in the dojo whether it be on a bag or in the air. The last thing I would suggest technically is that you must really work on your stretching and overall flexibility. You never know what you may have to do on a set, and the best way to prevent injury is to be flexible so that you do not pull muscles.
If you get hurt and cannot perform, this could mean $100,000 easily depending on how severe the injury is. JCVD – Well I would say to them, “you better be able to take rejection and you better be ready to jump when the opportunity presents itself.” For example, I first got my big break in a movie being made by Canon Films. They had some one else doing the lead in “Kickboxer,” and Menachon Golan, the President of Canon, wasn’t happy with the way it was coming out. I begged him to give me a chance, and he did. So don’t be afraid to speak up; you never know when you will get another chance. Just imagine if I had not spoken up.
