Jean Claude Van Damme Talks THE PIT BULL

And the rebirth of Jean Claude Van Damme continues ... Riding the success of JCVD - a film which we absolutely love around these parts - Van Damme has been hard at work on his directorial effort The Eagle Path, a film that is drawing solid early buzz, and now word is beginning to get out about his next feature after that. Currently running under the title The Pit Bull, Van Damme recently spilled a huge number of details about the project in a conversation with Impact Magazine's Mike Leeder. Our thanks to Leeder for allowing us to reprint the relevant portion here. Check it below the break!

Mike Leeder: There’s been a lot of talk about what your next project might be, including a lot of speculation that it could be a sequel to “Bloodsport”. Could you set the record straight about what you are working on?

Jean-Claude Van Damme: "Bloodsport" holds a very special pace in my heart, it was my first real movie and introduced me to the world, and it’s a film that I know so many people around the world really love. I think the film was ahead of its time in a lot of of ways, it not only gave the whole martial arts genre a boost, but also foretold certain things, l the idea of pitting different styles against each other, ideas about mixed martial arts etc. I am working on a martial arts film, but it’s not a "Bloodsport" sequel, it doesn't have any of the same characters or any connection to the film. But I hope it has some of the same spirit!

I really want to make a movie that fully respects the genre, it will have all the martial arts action people would want to see, but the story and the drama, and the characters will be handled in a more mature way this time. I want it to have an epic feel; I want it to be "the Godfather" of martial arts movies! (Laughing) I'm serious, something that people will look at as a milestone, something that embraces the genre that respects the martial arts and can raise the standard of martial arts movies. I want to go back to my roots, do a project that really acknowledges where I came from, and delivers in all departments.

I have a lot of ideas that I'd like to explore, I'm older now I can't play the young idealistic hero this time, I want to play a character that's my age. Somebody who has experienced the highs and lows of life, he's not a fresh faced fighter anymore, he's almost a bum, he's out of control when it comes to his life. I'd like to explore that idea, and the relationships he has with the people around him, his friends, his family, maybe he's neglected his children and as they've grown up its gotten worse. As his son became an adult and started trying to stand up for the rest of the family, things turned violent. He's taken things out on his son without even realizing. It’s the kind of thing that can destroy a family, turn father against son, especially as the father is maybe so far gone, he doesn't even know what he's been doing.

I want to see what would make someone follow that path, and what could possibly turn them around and make them become somebody again. But I’m not sure if the studios really like that kind of idea, I tell them my ideas and they’re “you can’t play a hero like that, how can the hero of the movie being abusing drugs, and abusing himself, and neglecting his family, that’s just unacceptable!” I ask them why not, and they tell that its ‘against the rules’, but I believe that if we can show something real, show someone having to overcome real problems, it makes the character and the story that much more real. There are real athletes and people who have overcome incredible difficulties in their own lives, people who had success and opportunity given to them, and they wasted it, they lost it, maybe because they took drugs, maybe because they were with the wrong people, and sometimes they manage to make it back. That’s what I want to explore, that kind of idea. I don’t think that just because it’s a martial arts film, it has to be a very simple story, and that we should only concentrate on the action. I want all the elements to be there, the story, the drama, the characters, and of course the martial arts action. If I can make a movie that delivers in all those areas, that would be a martial arts movie worth making.

The title I have for the project is “The Pit Bull”, it can describe the way the character thinks and behaves, and the way he fights, he’s beaten and battered but he keeps going. I am gathering the right people around me to work on this film, it’s very important to me that I have people working with me who have a real passion for what they’re doing, a real love for film. I don’t want people who think of this as just another job. I want people who will give me 100% when we are working, who want the same thing as me, to make a great movie. When I was doing “JCVD”, it was a very supportive, very positive environment to work in, everyone in the cast and crew were focused on doing the best they could, that really helped me in terms of my focus and my performance, I felt so comfortable on the shoot, even when we were working hard. If we’re all on the same track, then we can achieve something wonderful.

I want this to be a full blooded martial arts film, but in addition to the action, we will have a story, there will be real drama, real characters that people can identify with. Some people might think there are some semi autobiographical references in the film, and maybe they are right. If you can put real elements into a character, real experience then you can make the characters and situations more real for the film. I really want to make movies that work on a number of levels, not just action, but action and drama combined, I want this film to stay true to the spirit of some of my earlier films”, but with heart, with substance to back up the action. I’ve been through some ups and downs in life myself, through good times and bad times, and now I can bring real life experience into a project like this. I really believe that “The Pit Bull” will be the movie that people have been wanting to see me do for a long time.

There will be more news and announcements about this movie very soon with regards to cast and crew, and I think that people will be very excited about what we’re going to be doing with “The Pit Bull”, in terms of the action, the drama, and the people involved in the film.