tamil yogi
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Courtesy of Getty Images
Share on Facebook
Share on X
Google Preferred
Share to Flipboard
Show additional share options
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest
Share on Reddit
Share on Tumblr
Share on Whats App
Send an Email
Print the Article
Post a Comment
After the 1988 success of Cannon Films’ Hong Kong-set Bloodsport, starring the then up-and-coming Jean-Claude Van Damme, Cannon’s Menahem Golan, a regular and colorful presence at the American Film Market, was looking for a new vehicle for the Belgium-born martial arts star when writer-director Sheldon Lettich pitched a screenplay he’d written based on Alexandre Dumas’ The Corsican Brothers, about twins separated at birth. Golan wasn’t convinced that Van Damme was ready to handle a dual role, but Lettich managed to extricate the script from Cannon and sold it to producer Moshe Diamant, who set it up, with Columbia Pictures agreeing to take domestic rights and Vision International handling international sales.
Budgeted at $15 million, 1991’s Double Impact, the most expensive project Van Damme had tackled to date, featured him as brothers Alex and Chad Wagner. “One packs a piece and the other packs a pistol,” posters for the movie proclaimed, although the real distinction between the two was that Alex relies on street-fighting and firearms, while Chad has a black belt in karate. Eager to expand his range, Van Damme explained, “One of them is violent and the other is not, so the audience can see the contrast in my work. This picture has comedy, romance, a love story. So it is not all action and fighting. When I fight onscreen, I blend dancing and fighting. Grace plus power is very nice.”
THR’s review reported Lettich “gives Van Damme plenty of space for his performance, but his direction, like his star, only really comes alive during the action scenes,” though he also noted that Van Damme’s “growing legion of action fans should be pleased.” In fact, the formula found an appreciative audience, and after Double Impact grossed $80 million worldwide ($190.8 million today), Van Damme would go on to make three more movies — 1996’s Maximum Risk and 2001’s Replicant and The Order — in which he again doubled up to play dual roles.
Wicked: For Good
Oscars: Warner Bros. Wows With 30 Nominations as Other Major Studios Snubbed
sundance 2026
‘Frank & Louis’ Director Hopes Her Sundance Movie Shines a Light on the Role of Caretaking in Prison
Stellan Skarsgård
‘Awards Chatter’ Pod: Listen to Episodes With 25 of 2026’s Oscar Nominees, From A (or B, as in Bruckheimer) to Z (Zhao)
Teyana Taylor
Teyana Taylor Says She and Jessie Buckley FaceTimed After 2026 Oscar Nominations
Source linked above.
Movies
