Jean-Claude Van Damme Is "Completely Insane, and Weird" but Also "The Real Deal"

I’ve never met Jean-Claude Van Damme, but from all the interviews he’s given over the years, the kind of movies that he makes, and what people say about him, we know that he’s a very interesting and eccentric guy. I would love to meet Van Damme because I’ve heard meeting him is quite an unforgettable experience.

Peter Atencio, the director of Jean-Claude Van Johnson, recently opened up about his experience working with Van Damme, and he confirms that the actor is “completely insane, and weird” and the “real deal.” In Jean-Claude Van Johnson, Van Damme plays a man with a double life: Jean-Claude Van Damme is a fictionalized version of the actor's real-world identity, while "Johnson" -- just Johnson -- is an identity he assumes to do black ops-style contract work. During an interview with CB, Atencio said of Van Damme:

"Oh my Gosh, yeah. He's a character," Atencio told ComicBook.com's Chris Killian. "He's just kind of everything you would want him to be. He really is that strange and that amazing, and he's in  just incredible shape but also he's just out there. There was one day in particular I'll never forget. Doing that show for him, it was such a surreal experience because Dave was taking things from his real life and his real past and mixing it with this narrative. It was like half wish fulfillment, half brutal self-reflection. One day he came up to me on set, and he was dead serious, and he just grabbed me by the shoulders and was like, 'Peter, be honest with me, there is no show. This is an intervention, yes?' And I was like, 'I hate to break it to you, Jean-Claude, but there is definitely a show that we're making. This is not just a therapy session for you.' But he had emotional breakthroughs on that show. It was a wild experience but he was a lot of fun to work with."

Atencio went on to say that Van Damme is “totally worth meeting," and said:

"He is completely insane, and weird, but also he's the real deal. He lives a life, he gets in his Bentley convertible with like three dogs in the back and goes to Gold's Gym every say and works out. He's super committed, and everywhere you go with him, people come up to him and they're like, 'You're my hero. You're the reason I did this,' or 'You changed my life.' And he's incredibly gracious. Nobody loves their fans more than him. He's really a sweet person. I think for somebody to have all that adoration and still make it through and still be a genuinely decent person, that's pretty admirable."

Well, after reading this I really want to meet Van Damme! He seems like everything I hoped he would be in real life! You can watch the first season of Jean-Claude Van Johnson on Prime Video now.