USA: Action star, Jean-Claude Van Damme directs his first feature, "The Quest"

Record ID: 625236

  • Title: USA: Action star, Jean-Claude Van Damme directs his first feature, "The Quest"
  • Date: 20th April 1996
  • Summary: THE NINJA AZDINE NOURI CUTS A PINEAPPLE AND BREAKS BRICKS WHILE BLINDFOLDED CESAR CARNEIRO DISPLAYS BRAZILIAN ART FORM OF CAPOEIRA TWO FIGHTERS FROM THE FILM DEMONSTRATE A BATTLE
  • Embargoed: 5th May 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA4GL7T0KT9LWZGDM7RK87JIFG7
  • Story Text: Martial arts star Jean Claude Van Damme goes behind the camera as a director for the first time on the new action-adventure film "The Quest," co-starring former James Bond, Roger Moore.
    Van Damme also stars in the film as Chris Dubois, an idealistic street criminal on the run from the New York police. He embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery that takes him from the Manhattan slums where he was raised to the mysterious Lost City of Tibet.
    There he enters the fabled Ghan-gheng, an ancient winner-take-all competition in which the deadliest fighters from around the world employ various martial arts to win the prized Golden Dragon.
    Also attracted to the Golden Dragon, but for its monetary value, is the pirate Lord Edgar Dobbs, played by Moore. It is Dobbs who discovers Dubois' fighting talents on the high seas and brings him to the tournament.
    Van Damme took four years to bring "The Quest" to the big screen, and much of that time was spent scouring the globe to cast the massive fighters who compete in the tournament.
    He insisted on finding real martial arts masters who could act and look as though they belonged in the 1930's --the time period in which the film is set.
    The film shows off 16 different forms of hand-to-hand combat, from Thai Kickboxing and Karate, to Western Boxing, Sumo Wrestling, and Tae Kwon Do.
    On April 20th, Van Damme gathered many of the fighters from the film at Universal Studios in Hollywood to exhibit their talents for the park's tourists.
    Following the martial arts demonstration, Van Damme, Moore, and the fighters travelled across the park, Van Damme on an elephant and Moore in a rickshaw, to the film's premiere.
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