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When I first discovered the teaser for J.C.V.D, I was hooked immediately. A satire version of Van Damme\'s life, where Van Damme plays himself? Yes, please. The teaser, however, gave the impression that the movie\'s going to be about Van Damme trying to play himself in his own biopic. That is apparently not the case, as shown in this new trailer.

The teaser was a glimpse into the character Van Damme is playing in this movie: ...

When I first discovered the teaser for J.C.V.D, I was hooked immediately. A satire version of Van Damme\'s life, where Van Damme plays himself? Yes, please. The teaser, however, gave the impression that the movie\'s going to be about Van Damme trying to play himself in his own biopic. That is apparently not the case, as shown in this new trailer.

The teaser was a glimpse into the character Van Damme is playing in this movie: a pompous drunken mess of a jerk version of himself, sort of like what a celebrity would do when they guest star on Extras. The actual plot of the movie, however, is about Van Damme returning to Brussels after his career died out in the States. Utterly broke and fighting for the custody of his children, the actor\'s life becomes even more complicated when he\'s suddenly mistaken as a robber and becomes involved in a real crime story.

Of course, there\'s a movie that sounds very similar to this. Bruce Campbell is doing the same thing with My Name is Bruce. But Campbell\'s a straight up send-up of his Ash persona, while J.C.V.D looks like it takes its cues from Charlie Kaufman Adaptation school of thought.

The real question is how well Van Damme can play dramatic comedy. He\'s playing a character that\'s not about sending his foot to somebody\'s face. In a recent interview with MTV, he sounds like the role rejuvenated him and gave him an opening to do something other than the video schlock he\'s been doing.

I think it\'s the best film I\'ve done in my career. I didn\'t take any salary for it. I\'ve got to respect my fanbase, the people who made me famous, but I\'m trying to bring them something different. With me playing me, it was a very shocking experience. When I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago, I wasn\'t able to function for a few days. After 37 movies, I said, "I will never do another movie I would not like." What Mabrouk did to me, it\'s like Scorsese did to De Niro years ago. It\'s a very different picture for Jean-Claude Van Damme.

You have to give credit to Van Damme, at least. After experiencing such massive success in the 90s, it doesn\'t look like he\'s disappearing into obscurity with a black mark. People like Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes and other niche stars tend to get into trouble or, worse, a reality show. Van Damme is consistently making the same movies he\'s always done and serves his fans that way without any pretense of being a superstar outside of that realm.

And it\'s not like nobody\'s interested in him anymore. Did you know that he turned down roles in both Rush Hour 3 and the new Street Fighter movie?

Yeah, I was approached [to do Rush Hour 3]. But if I do an action movie today I cannot walk through the streets and do karate moves. I would not believe it anymore. It\'s hard for me to say that. I cannot go and do three somersaults. I would feel like a monkey. So Rush Hour, even though I would have been well paid, would have been difficult for me to accept.

In fact they called me for [the new Street Fighter], to do the sequel. Again, I would have been well paid but I didn\'t want to do it. I\'ve made enough money. I don\'t want to make a movie and then come home and be unhappy about it. Life is short. I\'m 47 years old. I\'ve got 10 years to go where I can be the best I can be. I want those 10 years to be precious, not like before, cranking two or three movies a year. I\'ve made a ton of movies in my life, but so what? It\'s time for me to do things I like so I will be happy, my wife will be happy, my friends will be happy. I just want to do something I\'m proud of. It\'s time for me to change. I could sign with a company for 10 movies and I\'m the king of video and so what?

So what does this mean for Van Damme\'s future? Is J.C.V.D going to be his big surprise role, and is he going to make a comeback with a different career path? Or is this going to blow up in his face and he\'ll go back to making movies about ancient tournaments and a librarian fighting terrorists and all that stuff, preferably teamed up with Dennis Rodman?

All I can say is that I can\'t wait to see the movie.

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