Impact's original cover star Jean-Claude Van Damme is the Merchant of Vengeance in his latest project Pound of Flesh, which will begin production in China this spring, with Six Bullets and Assassination Games director Ernie Barbarash at the helm and handling the films fight choreography is longtime Donnie Yen associate John Salvitti (Line of Duty 4, Special ID).
Van Damme plays a man with a mission, after rescuing what appears to be a damsel in distress, he wakes up the next morning in a blood soaked hotel bath without a kidney.
According to Van Damme himself; "I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into Pound of Flesh, its exactly the kind of character-driven action thriller, myself and my fans love best- a movie that delivers nonstop hardore action that's fuelled by a really surprising story and real characters you care about from the moment you meet them on screen."
The recent Go-Daddy and Volvo commercials have received very positive feedback, as have references and call-outs to Van Damme by Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sandra Bullock, not to mention Will Ferrell's Anchorman 2 (which sees Van Damme make a blink and you'll miss him appearence when Ron Burgundy needs inspiration). Soon we'll be seeing him in the dark thriller Enemies Closer which sees him playing a wild haired wild-eyed vegan villain... and in a rare comedic turn in Welcome to the Jungle where he plays an eccentric survival instructor.
We've always been fans of Van Damme's work, and we gave the thumbs up to both of his previous films with Barbarash, who is rapidly becoming one of our favourite action directors and we interviewed him previously about his career and working relationship and friendship with Jean-Claude.
We're also excited about Van Damme returning to onscreen in China, he's previously shot such classics as Bloodsport and Double Impact in Hong Kong, but this will mark his first excursion into shooting in the formerly forbidden kingdom. The last few months have seen Jean-Claude training hard in both Hong Kong & in Belgium, where he has been training under his former martial arts mentor Claude Goetz, so we're excited about the prospect of a full on action fight flick.
As for the films fight choreographer, John Salvitti is a ring proven fighter who has worked with and learned with the best in the business, working with Donnie Yen on such projects as Line of Duty 4 and Tiger Cage 2, working on the high impact choreography for such projects as Flashpoint & most recently Special ID. Salvitti's also worked with Yuen Woo-ping, Jet Li, Bolo Yeung, Danny Trejo and more on a variety of projects and we look forward to seeing his fight choreography for the film. For a taste of things to come, check out his reel;
