The Gardener: “Van Damme, deep down, he needs love”

After The Last Mercenary, director David Charhon puts “the muscles from brussels” back in the saddle. A look back at a star like no other.

After the success of Last MercenaryDavid Charhon finds Jean-Claude Van Damme for a new action comedy, The Gardener. The French filmmaker, who made himself known with On the other side of the ring road continues its exploration of the buddy movie with this story of a politician (Michael Youn) threatened by a dangerous commando. To ensure his protection, he can count on his mysterious gardener, played by Van Damme. In this interview, Charhon talks about his collaboration with the Belgian star. The opportunity to discover how he was able to get the best out of this “UFO” of action cinema, while respecting what made him legendary.

Let's start with your meeting with Jean-Claude on The last mercenary ?

David Charhon: From the start, when I wrote this film, I wanted to make a real homage to all this action cinema of the 90s. It's the genre that I grew up with and for which I have a true passion. And immediately, I thought of Jean-Claude. It happened in a rather funny way because I didn't know anyone on the Van Damme side, so we just sent an email to Patrick (Goavec, his agent). My colleague sent a message and it came at the right time. Patrick said to me, “Come tomorrow, you can meet him.” I found myself the next day, 24 hours later, in a restaurant. I told him the story and the pitch, he liked it and he arranged to meet me again in Belgium. There, I'm with my script, but he immediately told me “No, I don't want to read the script. Tell me about it.” I pitched to him for an hour, line by line, telling him the story in detail. Scene after scene… Jean-Claude, he needs to feel things. And with that, he shook my hand and off we went.

What interested you about Van Damme?

For me, it represents a whole section of 90s pop culture. I was lulled by the films of Stallone, Schwarzy, all that stuff. And Jean-Claude, he is like them. He is an international actor. A real star and that's why we love cinema, especially US. And when you have this passion for American cinema, Jean-Claude becomes central. I find that, compared to Sly or Schwarzy, he has always brought a bit of a dimension… He's a bit of a UFO. He is someone who, despite everything that has happened, despite the ups and downs of his career, has always managed to keep something cult that people love. And I wanted to find that again. I also wanted to highlight his acting. We know that he is an exceptional and physical martial arts expert, but I thought that we hadn't seen enough of him in comedies. If you look closely at his filmography, he made almost 70 films, and he had almost never done a comedy. I didn't understand why, I was sure he was self-deprecating but no one had played with it…

In France, there is something a little ambiguous with Van Damme. We like it, but we like to make fun of it even more…

You know, when I spoke with Americans after The Mercenary came out, they didn't have at all the same vision of Jean-Claude as we did. In Los Angeles, they don't have at all this vision of a somewhat perched JCVD ​​that some people have here. It's a very French thing. Afterwards, you should know that Jean-Claude is someone who moves very quickly in his mind. I'll give you an example: there is this famous sentence that he said “how much is one plus one? That's one”. Everyone made fun of him. The reality is that he was talking about numerology and it is true that in numerology, one does not add up. But as he moves quickly in his mind, he talks about numerology without explaining and people at first do not understand, but worse do not try to understand… However, each time there is an explanation.

Coming back to cinema, how do you work with Jean-Claude Van Damme? He has worked with great filmmakers, notably in Hong Kong. He knows how to move in front of a camera, how to frame a fighting movement. What was your relationship with him as a filmmaker?

I'm definitely not going to teach him how to move in front of a camera. But you know what: it's crazy, I had an easier time with him than with certain French actors. For what ? Because he has total respect for the director once he accepts the project. I've already found myself on a set with actors who told me “I don't understand why my character…” while we were filming. At that moment, you say to yourself “We've been talking about this for six months, we could have had this discussion before, right?” But that’s very French. The Americans, on a set, they have done their work before, for six months, they know everything about their character. And during filming, it's action. They try, fail, try again. Jean-Claude, you arrive, you tell him something, he listens to you and he plays. He knows exactly how to get the light, where to position himself to be the most beautiful for the shot… No one will teach him that. But he's a great professional and he has a lot of respect for the director. He never questions what you offer him.

Compared to the Last Mercenaryhere we are more in the action, with an old-fashioned Van Damme. I guess he was more comfortable because of that too.

Yes, I wanted more of a raw Van Damme while the other was actually more comedy, a little more parody. But when you ask him something, he looks at you, he says “Are you sure?” and then “Deal, done”. That's his phrase: “deal done.” He gives and accepts everything. I had fewer difficulties with him than other known French actors.

And compared to other actors?

He never positions himself as a star. When he toured with Miou-Miou on the Mercenaryhe was very worried: “But what will she think of me? My mother adores her.” And then “Do you think she liked me?” He is very, very humble as an actor. When he tells me about his references, they are not action actors. He talks to me about Lino Ventura, Belmondo, Gabin. These are the actors he likes. Jean-Claude knows who he is, he knows that he's a big star, obviously, but he always stays in his place on the set.

Unlike the Last mercenarythe emphasis here is less on comedy and more on action. And we find the JCVD ​​of the good old days. There are shots where you show it in a very iconic way and at the same time with a kind of irony in your eyes…

That's exactly it. Jean-Claude is a soldier on a set. You tell him things and he understands very well when there is second degree. When I openly quote Stallone in the film, with the line “Stop pretending to be Rambo”, he immediately understands where I'm going, that we have to slip into irony. When I told him, “I'm your life insurance,” he understood very well. He understands the second degree, and how I want to play with his image. Basically, it's pretty easy to sum up the collaboration with him: the most important thing is that we love him, he has a crazy need for love. He knows I'm not making fun of him. Even when we act stupid The last mercenaryhe knows that I sincerely love him. Once it's acquired, it's perfect because he's someone who is very sensitive to that. He's an animal, he sees everything. If you have someone in front of you who doesn't like it, it's over.

In this film, you also took it further into the emotions…

Yes, further into the game too. It is much less parodic. This emotional scene in the woods, for example, he doesn't make it up. I work, I talk with him, we talked about his own parents. When I prepared the scene with him, he took my arm and said, “But my father never hit my mother.” There, I told myself that he wasn't dissociating, he was completely in it. He doesn't fabricate emotion, he is sincere. These tears were sincere. The take you see in the film is a take. Only one take, but magical.

Here, JCVD ​​is very handsome compared to the face he had in The Last Mercenary…

In The last mercenarywe were in a bit of a parody. There, I didn't want to do the same thing. I wanted a first degree Jean-Claude and find the one we want to see. And he was in much better shape. He's a very physical actor, like Jackie Chan. This is someone who works out every day, who stretches every day, who prepares every day. During the Last Mercenaryhe was in a little pain, he had hip problems. It was a bit difficult, he felt it. And if he is not well in his body, he is not well in his head. There, he was cool. I think it improves visually, and that's great. All these actors, with their weathered faces, are the same… They age magnificently. I wanted Jean-Claude to be beautiful like this old animal, this old lion. You know, the body is very important to him. I'll give you an example: when I take a close-up on his face, each time, he'll do push-ups first. I asked him why, since we can't see his muscles. He replied: “When I do push-ups, it oxygenates, it brightens my eyes.” And it's true, I've already done shots of him doing push-ups, and believe me, he has a different look.

Okay, can we talk about the real surprise? Everyone expected Van Damme's famous splits. And then…

And then no (laughs). It's funny because everyone, whether it was Amazon or the producers, was asking me to include the splits. But I refused because we had already done it before in The Last Mercenary. I didn't want Jean-Claude Van Damme to be reduced to that, for it to become a parody. Instead, I preferred to give him something more interesting for the end of the film. I told him: “Rather than doing the splits again, give me a best-of of all your legendary moves.” And he loved the idea. The final sequence with The Banner is really his sequence. He choreographed it entirely himself. He made sketches for me, showed me how he wanted to sequence all his signature moves. He even taught me Hong Kong cinema techniques. For example, for some close-ups of kicks, instead of doing the full motion, he would put the shoes on his arms – that's a trick they use in China. As he says: “Chinese cinema is about resourcefulness and ideas.”

In this entire sequence, he insisted on doing almost all the stunts himself. We only used stunt doubles for really dangerous actions where he could have gotten hurt. And the crazy thing is that he even participated in the editing. He has an incredible sense of rhythm. This isn't the first time either – one of his first films which didn't work, he re-edited it himself and the film became cult. He's a true perfectionist: even months after filming, he was still calling me to suggest adjustments. This final sequence is truly his gift to the fans.

The detailed synopsis: “Every year, the Prime Minister eliminates a list of nuisances in the name of reasons of state: the obscure Matignon List. Serge Shuster, special advisor to the presidency, finds himself there despite himself. At the heart of a relentless plot, Serge and his family, condemned to certain death, can only count on their new gardener, Léo, who, in the past, has not only trimmed hedges. He's going to do what he was hired to do: eliminate weeds… his way.

The Gardener was released in France on Prime Video on January 10.