“I play so badly, I look like a ham”: Jean-Claude Van Damme is ashamed of this role

Remember that time Jean-Claude Van Damme played himself on Friends? It was 1996, a time when Street Fighter: The Last Stand and Sudden Death had just been released, both released in 1995. And he was hired to flirt with Rachel and Monica!

Did you know that the Monica-Chandler couple was made…thanks to the public?!

A recent interview New York PostJean-Claude Van Damme returned to his performance in the series with unexpected self-esteem:

I play very badly. I’m like a ham, like, “Hey, girls.” I am ashamed of myself. I was on set with these girls who would come and kiss me, even kiss me on the lips. I didn’t know what to do, how to do it… it was strange. They were very good.

“JCVD” appeared in Season 2 Episode 13 titled “The One Who Finds His Monkey – Part 2” (originally The One After The Super Bowl – Part 2). He is contacted there by Rachel, who comes to tell him that Monica finds him attractive. The actor replies that he prefers it.

In this episode we also learn that Monica has seen Full Contact and that JCVD ​​doesn’t mind “Threesome with Drew Barrymore” ! The actor did not know much about the series, which was already a huge success, but was only in its second year:

I knew almost nothing about the series. So when I arrive, I see two brilliant women telling me that this is the moment series in the whole world, I’m excited. And my agent tells me: “You should do an episode with them, you should play this guy.”

They were very attentive because they filmed the series every day. For them, I was walking into a place where everything was running in very well-oiled gear. It was incredible.

Friends producer Kevin Bright has more mixed memories of being an actor, as he reiterated The Hollywood Reporter :

“He arrived on set three or four hours late and immediately went to the dressing room. David and I thought he would introduce us and ask if he had any questions. We got there and he said, ‘No! I learned my lines. First you gave me the intention.”

“We had to move quickly if we completely messed up the day of the shoot.” adds Michael Lembeck, the episode’s director. “He was unprepared and arrogant! (…) First we were shooting his scenes with Jennifer. He comes up to me and says, ‘Lem, Lem, can you tell me not to put your tongue in my mouth when he kisses me?’ It’s great, but (…) that you better not do that, and then we did the scene with Courtney and she comes to say the exact same thing, I couldn’t believe it! I should have said the same thing to her, but more firmly.”

The author of the episode, Michael Borkow, finally concludes: “He’s not a comedy actor, and I think he showed that. On the other hand, we didn’t need him to be funny, we just had a big Hollywood star that the girls could rally around, and it worked.”