“This Is Not His Fault”: Jean-Claude Van Damme Stuntman Recounts Nearly Disastrous Stunt Gone Wrong

Summary Stunt gone wrong on Van Damme film almost left actor seriously injured, saved by team effort.

David Leitch recalls terrifying moment on set and praises director Ringo Lam for inspiring him.

Leitch's experience on Replicant didn't deter him from industry, leading to successful directing career.

A stuntman for Jean-Claude Van Damme's Replicant reveals how a stunt gone wrong was nearly disastrous. Van Damme is a martial artist and actor from Belgium, best known for his work on films such as Double Impact, Double Team, and Kickboxer. Now 63 years old, Van Damme has been acting since the 1980s. His most recent roles include a voice role in Minions: The Rise of Gru and in the video game Mortal Kombat 1. As a martial artist, he is known for his extreme stunts in films.

Speaking with the Corridor Crew, David Leitch describes his experience working on the film Replicant with Van Damme. According to the former stunt actor, there was one stunt wherein Van Damme had to shake a staircase contraption that Leitch was on.

Leitch, who was not tethered to the staircase in any way, had to lean back during the shot. In one nearly-disastrous moment, Van Damme shook hard enough that Leitch was flung to the ground. He was saved by someone on the stunt team sliding a mat underneath him. Check out Leitch’s full story below:

That’s me, in the top shot. You can see it’s me. Jean Claude needed someone to fight himself because he was a clone. This is a great stunt, I gotta tell you about this. It’s not really even a stunt. We tell Jean-Claude, and again, this is not his fault, this is our fault. My fault. ‘You know, Jean-Claude, you can shake it so much, but I’m not tethered in.’ And I’m supposed to be leaning backwards, and I’m not tethered in. They should have probably webbing strapped my feet in or something. And I remember him tipping the whole thing over. He tips it over. And I’m like ‘oh my god I’m going to hit my head from 12 feet high onto the concrete, right?’ I’m falling and in slow motion I just hear this pad go “zzzzt from across the floor.’ 20 feet away, Scott Ateah just slides this pad. And I land, I mean I totally taco. I mean I would’ve been knocked out, or neck broke.

Replicant Was Formative for Director David Leitch

Replicant is a 2001 movie in which Van Damme plays both himself and a clone, as Leitch references. The plot focuses around the story of cops trying to catch a serial killer who employ an unusual method. These cops make a genetic clone of the serial killer that will be used to try to catch the serial killer. As such, Replicant involves a number of fight scenes where these clones have to fight each other. The scene broken down by Corridor Crew is one such moment, requiring a stunt actor (in this case Leitch) to play Van Damme’s clone.

Leitch’s description is a terrifying example of stunt work gone wrong, but luckily, his experience working on Replicant did not deter him from the industry as a whole. In the video from Corridor Crew, Leitch spoke highly of Replicant director Ringo Lam. Leitch said that it was watching the late director that encouraged him to get into directing in his career. As such, Leitch directed his first feature film, Atomic Blonde, in 2017.

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Unsurprisingly, Leitch’s directorial efforts have included a number of stunt-heavy movies. Most recently, this includes this year's The Fall Guy, wherein the main character is a stunt actor. Even if he may have had some near misses along the way such as in the Van Damme film Replicant, the legacy of Leitch’s stunt career lives on through his directorial work.

Source: Corridor Crew / YouTube