„He Was So Angry.” Jean-Claude Van Damme Was Supposed to Play One of The Most Famous Sci-Fi Monsters Alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, but He Was Fired
Jean-Claude Van Damme in the 1980s had a chance to play alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, but after turmoil on the set it was lost.
Jean-Claude Van Damme specializes in action cinema, which he has stuck closely to throughout his career. He is undeniably a star of the genre, however, in the 1980s he was not yet as recognizable as he is today, so his roles were also less enthralling, but his breakthrough was to come in 1986, when he was to play Predator alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had already gained star status after Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator.
The actor managed to gain a role that the filmmakers saw him in, as they wanted Predator to move like Van Damme. Unfortunately, the collaboration didn't work out in the end, and the biggest problems here were caused by the costume. This is based on reports from most of the people involved, which don’t always fully overlap, but this one issue remains constant – at the center of everything was the costume in which Van Damme was to appear in Predator.
As special effects legend Steve Johnson recounted, Van Damme immediately didn't like the costume and the fact that he would be like an invisible stuntman, while he was looking for his chance to break out in this film with Schwarzenegger. He complained about the look of the costume, a bright red one, which was simply a technical version, made to stand out in the jungle and make it easier for the special effects guys.
He was just off the boat from Brussels, he thought he was going to show his martial arts abilities to the world. He thought this was actually the real look of the monster in the movie and he [said] “I hate this. I hate this. I hate it. I look like a superhero.” He was so angry.
Van Damme explained in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that many of the problems stemmed from poor communication. There were misunderstandings, and as a result he was convinced that he would appear in "a tight leotard with half-[human], half-animal makeup on my face," rather than in a rubber costume that prevented him from moving and performing acrobatics. And so much so that during the shoot he refused to perform a jump, which he said was dangerous in such conditions.
When Joel asked me to jump, I knew it was gonna be a bad one. I said, “This is impossible, Joel [Silver – producent]. I think we’re gonna have a problem.”
In the end, the decision-makers agreed with what Van Damme said about the costume – it wasn't good, so they ordered that a new one should be made. And it was made, but the new vision no longer included Van Damme, who didn't fit it, so they said goodbye to him. So the actor no longer had the opportunity to play alongside Schwarzenegger in 1987's Predator. This didn't hurt his career, as in the following years he lived to see his breakthrough and proved himself on the screens with his martial arts skills.
