Jean-Claude Van Damme To Go From Student To Mentor In ‘Kickboxer’ Reboot

Jean-Claude Van Damme is going to actually come back and be a part of a reboot of Kickboxer, the 1989 cult-classic martial arts movie. He starred in the original 25 years ago, but this time he’s going to be in an entirely different role than the one he had the first time around.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Van Damme is now way past the role of the student and is going to be the mentor, which seems incredibly appropriate. Thai action star Tony Jaa was already in the role, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

While Van Damme isn’t officially in the role, he is in final negotiations to join the cast of Kickboxer.

The reboot will tell the tale of Kurt Sloan (Alain Moussi), who is an expert martial artist who travels to Thailand to hone his craft. He’s going to learn the art and secrets of the kickboxer, but he’s doing it for a specific reason. Sloan has always been in the shadow of his older brother, Eric.

Sloan is looking to avenge the death of his brother who died at the hands of the evil Tong Po, who will be played by Dave Bautista. You may remember Bautista from his WWE days and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Moussi starred in X-Men: Days of Future Past, and George St. Pierre (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) will also have a role.

“We are so excited to have Kickboxer roll into production and to have JCVD in the role of Master Chow, passing the torch to Alain, to have him lead the franchise to a new generation ” said Ted Field of Radar Films, who is producing the movie with Dimitri Logothetis and Nick Celozzi. Logothetis and Jim McGrath wrote the script.

Coming Soon states that the film will be directed by John Stockwell.

Filming is set to begin in New Orleans, Louisiana, and some shooting will also take part in Thailand as production begins this week. There has been no word on a release date.

Dennis Chow played Master Chow in the 1989 original, but now the role belongs to Jean-Claude Van Damme. A reboot of Kickboxer was already guaranteed to bring in sentimental audiences that want to compare it to the original, but the inclusion of JCVD is going to really bring in all action fans now.

It’s going to be interesting to see if Kickboxer can even come close to the popularity of the original, but having Jean-Claude Van Damme on board is already a promise to raise up the box office total.

[Image via The Guardian]