Why Dolph Lundgren & Jean Claude Van Damme Had A Fake Feud

At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme pretended to have a feud. Here’s what happened and why. In the early 1990s, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme engaged in a fake feud and pretended to almost have a fight with each other. The two didn’t come to blows, but the incident did involve some pushing and an intense verbal exchange. Though the confrontation suggested that there was a great deal of tension between the two stars, none of it was real. The Rocky IV star and the Muscles from Brussels were two of the biggest action heroes of the 1990s.

Though not on the same level of stardom as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the two headlined a long list of popular action movies during the 1990s and 2000s. One iconic science fiction film, 1992’s Universal Soldier, memorably starred both actors, with Van Damme as the hero and Lundgren as the villain. Years later, the pair reunited to make Universal Soldier: Regeneration in 2009 and teamed up again for 2018’s Black Water. While their collaborations indicate that the actors are on good terms, there was a time in the early 1990s when people believed otherwise – and for good reason.

Jean Claude Van Damme Training, Sparring & Fitness

At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, the two actors were seen shoving each other. The heated argument, which was in full view of the public, was captured by cameras [via YouTube]. The actors’ bodyguards got involved and seemingly prevented the altercations from escalating any further. But according to Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, there was never any risk of a real fight. Apparently, their fake feud at the Cannes Festival was staged by Van Damme for publicity.

As Van Damme has explained in the past, the idea came about as a response to Stallone and Schwarzenegger dancing at the previous year’s festival and the media attention it received [via YouTube]. It made Van Damme decide to do his own publicity stunt with Lundgren. He called his Universal Soldier co-star from his hotel in Cannes and suggested that they show some “friction” on the red carpet, believing that it would help publicize their movie, which had completed filming but was still a couple months away from its theatrical release.

After Lundgren agreed to Van Damme’s plan, the two started shoved each other on the steps of the Festival Hall. Just as Van Damme intended, the “fight” instantly grabbed headlines and brought some added attention to Universal Solider from the media. Their fake feud sparked some false rumors of a bitter rivalry between the two action heroes and raised plenty of questions from reporters and television personalities about what prompted their conflict at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. Since then, the actors have been upfront about what really happened.

It evolved into a joking matter for both Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who sometimes recount the story behind their Universal Soldier publicity stunt in interviews.