We are not talking about “Schwartzie” (Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nickname in France, or “Arnie” for everyone else) with his most notorious: “I’ll Be Back.“

Non, pas du tout (no, not at all), this time the one who is making a comeback is another acteur, whose first shot to fame came at about the same time as Schwartzie’s, although the two actors do in fact share some other distinctive features, as they both moved to America from Europe chasing  “le rêve américain” (the “American Dream”): Arnie from l’Autriche (Austria) and, the actor in question, Jean-Claude Van Damme, from la Belgique. They also both didn’t get rid of their original accents throughout their careers, even though “ze French accent” of Jean-Claude tends to be a bit less conspicuous to the ear than its German counterpart for Arnie. The reason is to be found, as Van Damme would later confess, in the fact that he learned and improved his English mostly by watching many episodes of le dessin animé “Les Pierrafeu” (“The Flintstones” cartoon) in its original -English- version! 

Arnie’s “I’ll Be Back” in French (“Je Reviendrai”)—Not quite the same, admittedly, but the French dubbing of American movies is usually very good, if not better than the original version at times!

* * *

Oui, c’est maintenant officiel (Yes, it’s now officiel), JCVD “Is Back”, and this time, c’est pour de vrai (it’s for real.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xGJ0N23lrs
                “Wow, lots of Van Dammage!” (Bob Sinclair’s “Kiss My Eyes”)

Next month, octobre 2010, the very same month in which he will celebrate his 50th anniversaire, Jean-Claude Van Damme will be facing Thai boxing Olympic champion Somluck Kamsing in what is already a highly anticipated confrontation taking place somewhere in the former Portuguese colony Macao (now back to China.) The overall ambiance of the fight will most likely remind his fans of his premier grand succès in the blockbuster movie “Kickboxer”… Ou du moins on l’espère (or at least we hope so)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOIJtS4gbaY
Van Damme “hitting” the dance floor—among other targets, of course (“Kickboxer”)
Le titre de la chanson (the song’s title) is ”Feeling So Good Today”, by Beau Williams.

Le gagnant du combat d’octobre (the winner of October’s fight) will in turn be thrown in an interesting face-à-face against current champion du monde (world champion), who by the way goes by the charming little name of Jeffrey “The Squasher” Sun.

The fact that Jean-Claude Van Damme is now, shall we say, gently frisant la cinquentaine (pushing fifty) doesn’t seem to cause him a great deal of concern.

Bien au contraire (quite to the contrary)! “Les Muscles de Bruxelles” (his French nickname, which is a jeu de mot -a pun- meaning “The Muscles from Bruxelles“) has nonchalantly declared to the media: “C’est un peu dangereux, mais la vie est courte” (“it’s a bit dangerous, but life is short.”)

Life is indeed short, and once you’ve become half a century old, even if you’re a Jean-Claude Van Damme, that malheureusement doesn’t come without any shortcomings. But then again, of the age factor, JCVD is well A*W*A*R*E*!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi5JyCYKZws
Un moment classique de la TV en France ( A classic TV moment in France): “La philosophie AWARE” of Jean-Claude Van Damme… L’existentialisme sartrien n’avait qu’à bien se tenir (Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism had better to be ready.)