Jean Claude VAN DAMME in his Jeans Factory RAW RUSHES FOOTAGE

Watch the completed edited TV interview show here: https://youtu.be/yjZEddc8g9g
Action Movie legend Jean Claude Van Damme meets British actor comedian Richard Blackwood in a British comedy interview TV show I produced in 2001.

Mr. Van Damme was very kind, funny, good-natured and very generous with his time.
He showed us round the factory making his Dammage7 brand jeans, in a time before everybody had merch.
At 3:35, see how I effortlessly bring the entire shot to a halt, when Mr. Jean-Claude Van Damme asks The King Of Jeans to make me a coffee to wake me up.
This is why I am a Series Producer. "Coffee for the man, he's sweating a bit!"
Found in my loft on VHS - it will never be shown again - This is raw Van Damme!

Jean Claude VAN DAMME in his Jeans Factory RAW RUSHES FOOTAGE



Transcript:
I was NOT safe with him!
I don't know what happened to Richard but now I know the real Richard!
That was cool gag.
Yeah, it's cool.
He helped me driving.
So let's go see how do we a stone wash the jeans.
Let's stonewash the jeans! I'll show you some stuff.
Here's the washing process - HEY GUYS!
How are you?
Ça va? How are you?
¿Cómo está, señor?
Bien amigos.
You're on TV England channel.
And those guys are making the jeans. Everybody.
Film the crew right here!
Film all of this, get all of that.
All my friends... and they're also here.
Cool.
They are the best.
What's up?
Film these guys they make the jeans.
S'up!
Wanna jean?
You wanna jean?

They look like they're finished. Is this all your line here?
No... they have the Lucky Brand, you've got Guess, you've got Gap...
Oh, okay...
Oh oh oh oh! AND of course... Dammage 7!
Ah, there you go!
Be careful of your lens! I came very close!
Yeah that was actually quite good.
OOhhh! [MARTIAL ARTS NOISES]
Your kicks are very good! Your kicks are very good!
The best! And that's where they put the jeans and they wash the jeans, I'll show you.
Okay, come through.

Oh, let's bring somebody - Arri, Ari, bring a guy and (whistle noise). Inflate the... M-F.
That's wind. That's hot because working here... and it produce also lots of dust and everything, so they don't get sick in their lungs. We have to be careful. All this stuff go away. And they wash the jeans with a... actually, can we have one?
Think I knew a girl with some legs like this once.
It's lunch break so it's great for them.
Okay, s'up!
They'll come soon.
S'up!
Film these guys having lunch right here. They're at lunch these guys.
¿Cómo está? They'll put you on the TV.
Alright! Okay.
Here's some people.
Gracias. [SPEAKS SPANISH]
How you doin?
How are you.

He's a people person, Jean-Claude Van Damme. I know he's that.
Hello, it's Richard.
Nice to meet you.
He's a very famous-- (star in England)
English presenter--
And now he's going to be a famous guy in America, and he's also a singer, he's an actor, and he has a TV show... and we're going to show him the process of how to make jeans for the Dammage7 jeans, but also this lady she's the king of jeans - she's working for all the big, big brand in Los Angeles, and I'm sure you're gonna beep me, but like Lucky brand, Guess, Gap, all those people.

There are a lot of beeps happening there but Dammage 7 is what we're interested in.
She's doing a great job for us.
They have a nice high-end line, and that's what's happening to denim.
All the big, high-end lines they wanna make it nice, they wanna make it good, make it something.
I hear that, I hear that.
So where is his brand, where's his Dammage7 stuff, where's that?
There's some samples in here but we keep it under lock and key until it's in the stores so nobody else sees it...
I understand.
So we're getting an exclusive right now.
You want to see- You want to see we have a new--
(OFF CAMERA) Demonstrate how they are made.

We made a brand new jeans, which she doesn't yet know about it. Er, for a big-- we cannot tell the name yet who we're gonna work with... (I understand)
on camera, because it's not yet...
Official
Official, exactly, better English.
Yeah. Of course.
Hey! Hey!

Don't forget the subtitles, Producer (I haven't thank you Mr. Jean-Claude Van Damme)
Come here Producer!
Every time I make a mistake in English, you have to put subtitles.
Subtitle!
And that means 24 hours a day for me.
Yeah.
All subtitles.
Because he's French. [Sorry, he's not, Richard.]
I mean I understand what he's saying, but just for the rest of the audience.
Okay?
Yeah.
Okay.
You always like that?
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, good.
You like a coca cola, a Pepsi cola to wake up?
A coffee?
That'd be lovely, yeah.
You wanna coffee?
Can we have some coffee?
Coffee for the man, he's sweating a bit!
He's very tired, he's working on stuff.
Have you got any Pepsi, or anything like that for me?
I'll have a Pepsi.
[JEAN-CLAUDE TO ME:] You know what, I'm gonna put your head in the machine.
Let's put him on the stone wash machine!

Do you know what, you're actually taller than I thought you would be.
Excuse me?
You're taller than I thought you would be.
Oh yeah?
A lot of people said you're short, but you're quite tall. What are you 5'8"?
5' er... 5'9".
5'9" yeah you're very tall!

I love your shoes man.
Yeah well I got these for free. At Dada's. Dada. But I like yours, those are Prada, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. For small feet.
Yeah well, I'm a size 10, what are you size 8?
9. Jeez-- That's because they're white.
Put your foot forward a bit! That's not-- that's not-- Is that the back of your feet?!
You know what they say about people with big feet? You know what they say.
Big feet... big, hands.
Big hands, big wallet. Okay.
Hey, you gonna show?

Show them how they use the jeans.
This is El Patron, Jorge.
I'm Jorge.
Hello bro.
Cool.
Jorge's cool, man.
It's kind of cool because people they're gonna see like... what they call a "movie star" like a normal guy right?
Yeah, that's what they want!
You too, you're a normal guy. And we're here in the factory with very normal people and they can see how they make jeans... plus the movie... and all the--
It's another side to Jean-Claude. The other side.

Hey Jorge [SPEAKS SPANISH] Like we're sparring! [SHOTOKAN NOISES]
See he's good! He's got the moves!
I reckon I could take him. But I ain't gonna try, know what I mean.
So they put the pants-- Camera! Camera! Camera! Hold on...
Camera - here.
[OFF CAMERA:] We've got a tape change!
We'll just do a tape change real quick.
One minute, one minute.
Uno momento... Gracias.
[SPEAKS SPANISH] Loco.
You're learning some of the Spanish, I notice there.
Si.
[FACTORY NOISES]
Come. So they inflate the jean, see?
Okay.
The way you want it, with this pedal.
Yeah.
Okay, and I think a special (CHEERING)

Look at the way he's gonna wash that. Not wash, he's gonna, he's gonna do the--
Oh the fade thing.
The sand blast. Sand blast the jeans. By hand.
So, every one's done by hand?
Yes, all of them. But it goes so fast, they're so good.
You getting this, this is exclusive stuff!
It's a trained hand here, this guy is special.
They're non-stop, and they're very good - they're the best.
(OFF CAMERA:) And you!

This is my, by the way that's Arri, Arri Arrous, who's my jean designer.
Oh okay.
He's the head of my company. Dammage 7. He's been in the jean business for the last 22 years. He's sacrificed all his life for jeans. But now finally he's going to work for his own brand called Dammage 7. He's the best.
So... I feel like I can know you now, can I get some free samples?!
Yes. We're going to make a special jean for him.
That's what I'm saying.

We have a new jeans on the market - you're gonna see like very unusual... let's go see the red jeans, you want to bring it here.
Thanks bro!
Ari...
Good stuff, good stuff.
Look at this right here. Yeah, look at that.
Cool, no?
That's bad.
On the-- I'm going to put on these jeans.
[SPEAKS FRENCH] When you open, it's the thick button and the small one because the other car's the small one, it's vice versa.

[RICHARD: He's making him move the car, move the Bentley, he's gonna let him move the Bentley, because my Bentley you can't ever get near it.]
You want to ask me some questions?
Yeah well the thing is-- oh, right-- But I want to know about, so what made you go into fashion?
Huh?
What made you go into fashion?
What?
[LAUGHTER]
What made you take that route?
No because, I don't know I want to do a special, a special jeans, that came with a special--
[OFF CAMERA:] Can we just stop you for 2 seconds, I just need to put a radio mic (microphone) on...
Yeah they need to put a mic on you.
Do we have to? Let's just leave it like that.
[OFF CAMERA:] It's very difficult - it's picking up a load of noise.

[STREET NOISES]
Excuse me, could you back up this is Jean-Claude's car I don't want you... scratching it.
Just get back there please. Thank you.
Park behind them! Right there, behind the Mercedes.
Yeah. This is Jean-Claude's Bentley. You know. He's wants to talk to you actually. Because, what he wants to do - come here.
You alright?
Yeah I'm fine, I'm more than fine! I was in his car.
We're in gang territory by the way, I just want to let you know that. We're in some serious-- Who the hell! Alright!
No what I'm saying is... Gang territory, know what I mean.
JEAN! This is the Producer guy, about next week?

Hello Jean-Claude.
Nice to meet you!
Thanks, really good to meet you. Thank you for er--
I was saying about what you were saying about next week.
Yeah, next week?
Yeah, when you come back, Monday, he said? You take off at the weekend?
Yeah that's right.
Monday, we'll fit in on Tuesday - okay we'll just see yeah?
We'll work together, yeah?
Fantastic yeah, are we safe here?
Excuse me?
Are we safe in this area?
Yeah you're safe. Those people are great. They're the real people, those people they go see my movies, and they go see your TV show, your TV.
Those are the real people.
Yeah.
We are like half-real, half-fake.
[LAUGHTER]

Was Richard okay in the car?
Yeah... he put his hand on my leg, and--
Now you see I don't know why he's trying to take it there.
I was NOT safe with HIM!
I don't know what happened to Richard but now I know the real Richard!
[LAUGHTER]

That was cool gag.
Yeah, it's cool.
He helped me driving.

So let's go see how do we a stone wash the jeans.
Let's stonewash the jeans! I'll show you some stuff.
Here's the washing process - HEY GUYS!
How are you?
Ça va? How are you?
¿Cómo está, señor?
[CAR DRIVING NOISE]
[FREEWAY NOISE]
I'll open the big gate there, you have a parking - follow me do U-turn there. Okay buddy hold on.
[CAR DRIVING NOISE]
Excuse me, could you back up this is Jean-Claude's car I don't want you... scratching it.
Just get back there please. Thank you.
Park behind them! Right there, behind the Mercedes.


Previous post...
HOME SCHOOL FAIL KS2 LESSON PLANS TightwadDad Vlog KS2

All about me, and getting these by email.