With the announcement of Jean Claude Van Damme’s next project ‘Black Water‘ – once again opposite Dolph Lundgren – we spoke to the film’s producers…
We spoke to Black Water‘s script writer Chad Law, who previously put pen to paper for such projects as Six Bullets with Jean-Claude, Drive Hard, Scott Adkins’ Close Range and the horror action hybrid Daylight’s End, about the project and what we can expect…
Chad Law: Well, it’s a conspiracy actionier set on a submarine, which is a sort of black site prison. Van Damme and Dolph (Lundgren) back together cracking heads – but they’re more allies this time though than enemies. I’ve seen a few people curious about that here and there so I’ll clarify: This isn’t a ‘versus’ scenario per se. It came together when the producer, Richard Switzer, whom I helped produce Altitude (also with Dolph), called me up and said he wanted to do an action movie set on a submarine. That was it really… and we took it from there and things changed from there and so on and so forth (as they do). And here we are!
I loved Van Damme growing up. Hard Target and Timecop were my favorites. Sudden Death, Death Warrant… even Cyborg. That’s one of the first movies I remember ever even seeing at the theater. And yeah, I did write Six Bullets for him specifically. It was right after he did JCVD and the producers hired me to do it for him specifically. With Black Water, though, that wasn’t the case. We didn’t have any specific cast in mind at the start: just ‘boom boom, bang bang, thwack thwack…‘
When we did Drive Hard, at one point it looked as if Van Damme was actually gonna be in it. Director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander), and I even met with him about it… him and Ving Rhames, and then…it just went a totally different direction. I remember being in Missouri for the holidays and getting the news that John Cusack and Thomas Jane were gonna be in it and we were shooting in Austrailia. But how cool is that! I love Cusack and Jane, always have, and I thought they were great in the movie.
Impact: If you could write a dream project for Jean-Claude what would it be?
Chad Law: A Timecop sequel. And until then, Black Water!
Producer Richard Switzer (Isolation, Altitude) also had the following to tell us about the project and added some extra details:
Richard Switzer: Black Water is the story of a CIA operative (Van Damme) who is imprisoned in a CIA black site on a nuclear submarine after being framed as a traitor. He has to prove his innocence with the help of fellow inmate (Lundgren) and clear his name before he disappears forever…
It feels amazing to have both of them in one movie. They haven’t really worked together outside of the Universal Soldier franchise, so getting them both to gives the thumbs up was incredible. Dawn’s Light is producing and financing this film. Jason Cherubini and Alexander Ferguson are Executive Producers. Taylor & Dodge is handling worldwide sales.
