I knew a guy who worked as an extra on âStreet Fighterâ. He was âplayingâ one of Bisonâs dead guards in the climax scene. Youâd think: easy gig, right? Well, he was actually required to lie upside down on a flight of stairsânot that comfortable for hours of shooting, especially when Mr Van Damme kept blowing one of his lines. And it was something simple like, âGet back there!â (not that surprising, if you look at JCVDâs movies, especially the âBloodsportâ era in which he averaged about five lines per movie). He flubbed take after take until my friend, uncomfortable and increasingly irritated, without raising his head, yelled, âLOOK ITâS âGET BACK THEREâ, ALL RIGHT!â Set bursts into laughter; director shouts, âCUT! Who said that?â But my friend kept âdeadâ still, wouldnât own up to it. This prompts our buddy Jean-Claude to exit the set in something of a huff and decide to retire to his trailer for the rest of the day.
If anyone else had told me this tale, I would be dubious; but this is far from the most outlandish story about this guy. And I have seen his antics in person. He is absolutely the type of person who would do this. This story has only enlarged his legend in our eyes. I never get sick of telling it, even if it isnât my own.
