“I think at an incredible speed”: Jean-Claude Van Damme multiplies the punchlines in “Sept à Huit”

At the mention of his name, some will think of the films Full Contact or Kickboxerwhen others will rather remember an interview in French during which he said “aware”an expression that became cult even before the advent of social networks. At 64, Jean-Claude Van Damme remains, in many ways, a pop culture myth.

“I lie about my age and say I'm in my fifties, but now I know what I need to be happy.”he confides to Audrey Crespo-Mara in the video visible at the top of this article, the portrait of the week devoted to him by “Sept à Huit” this Sunday, December 22 (also available on TF1+). An interview a few days before the release of Gardenera new feature film in which he plays the leading role, available on January 10 on the Amazon Prime platform.

“When I was a child, I was very, very skinny. Very sensitive. At 9 years old, I lost my first love after a breakup. It screwed me up for the rest of my life. Ever since , I have always rejected love. I have experienced five divorces But today I believe in it, I know that a third chapter will open in my life. as an actor”he rewinds in the preamble, drawing up a sort of assessment of his existence. Before conceding a single, significant regret: “That my children don't know me and don't like me very much, because I was absent. I worked in hotels for fifty years. As I support them, they don't work too much. They want to make films, I encouraged them but I was wrong. Friends tell me that they admire me, but that they are also a little jealous of me. It pisses me off.

I have enormous respect for super computers.

Jean-Claude Van Damme

For the rest, Jean-Claude Van Damme has not changed much, remaining impossible to follow as his thoughts overlap. As if he also played a role outside of the film sets… “The truth is that it was the public that created mehe blurted. I'm a completely normal guy, but above the norms. You have to get out of the box. If you think within the framework, you will be limited by the framework. Whereas when you come out, you will see it from the outside. Like at the Louvre museum. Because the Mona Lisa cannot be seen. We are the ones who admire him.”

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As for knowing if the mockery he is subjected to hurts him, fasten your seat belts: “What you think, sometimes, is not what you say. (…) So what made me sad is that people don't understand what I think. They listen to the noises, not the sounds. It's also because I think incredibly quickly. I can sense people. I left school at 13 and, at 42, I bought. an apartment in Hong Kong. I discovered YouTube Thanks to that, I learned about education, technology, biology… I stayed on it for twelve to fifteen hours a day, non-stop, with coffee and from time to time a little cigarette. .I sucked up YouTube like a computer. I have enormous respect for the super computers. They are ahead and know the future of humanity.” He pauses when an ambulance siren sounds. Then laughs: “This is a guy who passed out after hearing what I said.”