The Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme returned to visit an emission of "Loft Story", Thursday 14 June. Returned on a very noticed benefit...

Unforgettable! The arrival of the Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme to the emission of Loft Story, this Thursday 14 June, will remain engraved in our memories. Present to promote Replicant, his new film in cinemas from July 11, the star of the big screen and great variety had the effect of a true tornado when face-to-face with Benjamin Castaldi and confused Lofteurs.

When Benjamin Castaldi announced the entry of Jean-Claude Van Damme to the buildings of Saint-Denis Plain, it was a riot. Cries, applause, the star of the flat country who made his dream come true cut a path among a wild public, who all wanted a touch of the actor. Aziz, a big fan of the actor, hid his emotion poorly. Van Damme was radiant of health, a fact proven by his abundant energy. A multi-coloured Jean-Claude of blue and white, in a t-shirt, jacket and baseball cap: the actor looked very sharp and made his entry as that of a "tiger" in front of a slightly disconcerted Benjamin Castaldi.

Aziz, obviously very moved, had trouble to express himself in front of his idol. When Benjamin Castaldi suggested that Aziz never really wanted to compete with Jean-Claude Van Damme, he declared that "there is a difference between being jealous and envious. Jealousy, this is not good, but envy, this is very very good because envy, makes you want to do better than me. Then his child will be better than me, my child better than me, and it is like this that a better world is made, eh, okay?" The actor was launched, and no one would stop him henceforth...

Aziz, very impressed, requested feverishly of Van Damme to speak of his beginnings. The actor confided, "you know, initially, when I came to America, I really wanted to succeed in movies. It was a childhood dream, enormous. You know, when one says to you when you are small, people in your family say to you: do this, you cannot go higher than that. Or, do not do that, do not do this, it is not good for you."

The public, overexcited by the presence of the bodybuilding actor, cheered to each of his words. JCVD, in dazzling form, then decided to address himself to Aziz, and launched himself into a gigantic tirade where he expressed himself, higgledy-piggledy, on the success, confidence, the talent and the dangers of the acting trade. Van Damme spoke thus...

Van Damme with Benjamin Castaldi and Aziz

"You must do what your heart says and you must believe even more than you believe. And when you start to believe what you believe: there is nobody in the world who can move you, you go where you want! Sometimes one succeeds and all is very well. What happens, is that when you succeed, Aziz, there will be temptations. Because when you are far from your parents, the family, you are alone and you trust people, so producers will say: I will protect you, I will watch out for you, I really will give it heart, we will make money together. And you are young, for you come with only your karate talent, you are a sportsman, and have not yet the head of the businessman, the killer, the shark. Then, you trust people, like me, I have trusted, and sometimes there are people who fall, with matters like that... into drugs (outraged reaction of the public), okay? Then, this should be done. It is necessary to raise oneself, and me I say to you, I have made mistakes, errors in my life, big errors, you see. Perhaps this evening, these errors they are..."

At this precise moment, Van Damme removes his cap, and gives a harmless gesture that nevertheless provokes delirious enthusiasm from the public. "Ah, stop, stop the clapping, shit, stop this history!", then continues to the actor, "I speak of heart here, it is not show-business, okay? I am a man who now speaks to a man, to a young boy, okay? Still a child. I see your eyes, they are very proud, they are very arrogant, this is what happens, if you want to succeed, you need these eyes of the tiger. But afterwards, it is necessary to start to calm oneself, if one is not done after this..." (gives a very explicit gesture and the eyes of the presenter suggest that he has great difficulty in managing this high-speed motorboat of a Belgian karate expert).

Jean-Claude Van Damme, a tireless, true electric battery, then finished his long-winding speech by giving an ultimate counsel to Aziz: "do not fall as I have fallen, because now, attention Aziz, now I have climbed, now I am in form. Because now I have found in me something that is super. Now when I have a question, you know from whom I ask it? With me. You request with you and I swear it to you, you will find the answer. And Van Damme, for the moment, is in full form." Nobody dares to contradict him...

Benjamin Castaldi spoke next about the actor's new film, Replicant, while pointing out that this is the second time, after Double Impact, that he interprets two roles at the same time. Van Damme reacted "This was not Double Impact... that, this is deeper, there was even an exchange between the actors (roles) and I believe that I made... that the director at last knew how to improve me a little as an actor. But this is a good film, this is a film that has all the necessary, I do not know... This is my best film! For me, I do not know for the audience, but for me as an actor, this is my best film."

But Jean-Claude Van Damme was not able to leave without another speech of his beliefs. While it had been planned to do a demonstration of karate with Aziz, the actor instead gave his opinion on orphans "there is a lot of orphans. There will always be families who will want their child with them, because people are egotists, which is normal, because it is from this that one can go to the moon. But if one has the voice inside, one knows they are not alone, one knows there is a force of nature that made us, the Lord, Allah, I do not know how you call it, you manage yourself with that, okay? Me, I know a thing, it is that one is not all alone. Then for the orphans, it is necessary to teach them, at the age they are, and to say to them that they are never alone, that they have between them the Lord. If they do not believe in it, then they have to do this (he covers his ears) and you hear your heart beating: boom boom, boom boom. You know that this is life, and life is God, okay?". And thus Jean-Claude Van Damme concluded his service to Loft Story.

His new film, Replicant, will be released in French theatres next July 11. Click here to visit the official site.

Sourced from Allocine