The 1993 action blockbuster Demolition Man remains a shiny button in Sylvester Stallone’s raging list of action films. After his stint at Rocky Balboa went cold, his career was refreshed with the Marco Brambilla-led sci-fi action film. Demolition Man was a financial success, earning $159 million globally. However, things were different before Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes were cast as the leading action stars.
Casting the villain, Simon Phoenix, for Demolition Man was a major challenge. Fans are aware that pro martial artist and actor Jackie Chan declined to play the villain in the film because he was too wary of his image in Hollywood. However, there was another MMA icon who was approached for the part way before Wesley Snipes did it.
Also Read: You Won’t Believe How Much Money Sylvester Stallone Turned Down For Rambo 4
Jean-Claude Van Damme as Demolition Man’s villain
The 63-year-old Belgian actor was originally expected to play the part of Simon Phoenix, while his long-time rival, Steven Segal was to lead the film as protagonist John Spartan. Later on, Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes took over the roles after Marco Brambilla led the film and rewrote segments of the script.
Therefore, in a 2008 interview with MTV, the kickboxer-turned-actor, Jean-Claude Van Damme reflected on the possibilities and said,
“Years ago, it was proposed that I would do a film with Steven Seagal. I was supposed to be in Demolition Man with him. It was a great project. The script I read was a lot different than the one Sly did with Wesley Snipes. I was the bad guy. He was the good guy because he was the Warner Bros. guy.”
Van Damme was later cast as antagonist Jean Vilain in the 2012 Sly-starrer Expendables 2. Interestingly, action star Steven Seagal, a black belt in Aikido, was also approached for a cameo in The Expendables franchise. But he denied the part because he didn’t want to work with some of the actors involved, per Slash Film. It is perceived that his rejection was a result of his and Van Damm’s feud.
What’s the age-old clash between Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal?
According to The Telegraph, the two action icons got entangled in a never-ending dispute after Seagal questioned Van Damme’s MMA “fighting credentials” in 1991. Confirming the same, Sylvester Stallone once revealed that Van Damme challenged the 71-year-old actor to a fistfight outside Sly’s party in 1997. But that never happened because Seagal didn’t show up.
Notably, the Bloodsport star has consistently refuted any rift between him and Seagal in multiple interviews. He clarified, “People told me [Seagal] doesn’t speak so nice about me. I don’t know why.” Likewise, in another Daily Mail interview, Van Damme once again dismissed any discord between him and the Under Seige actor. He said,
“I have no problem with Steven. When you’re young you want to be the macho man. If I saw him today, I’d have no problem.”
Despite Van Damme’s efforts to neutralize any fallouts with Seagal, the action sphere senses a strong rivalry sparking off between the stars without a possible end. Had the original casting and plot for Demolition Man come to fruition, the action duo would have got their chance to face off and declare the winner. Nevertheless, their unresolved feud shall go down as the greatest rivalry in the golden era of action cinema.
