[youtube=http://youtu.be/M7FIvfx5J10]
“I should have been dead a couple of times,” Jean-Claude Van Damme, the Belgian martial-arts star, told TIME’s Richard Corliss back in 2009, talking about his wild Hollywood life full of hard drugs, fast women and loose money. Van Damme continued, “But something is holding me here. I’ve got a good star.” A good star? Or a good car?
In a voice-over that runs over the beginning of a new Volvo ad, the action star echoes some of what he said to Corliss back in ’09. “I’ve had my ups and downs. My fair share of bumpy roads and heavy winds. That’s what made me what I am today,” says Van Damme, 53. “Now I stand here before you. What you see is a body crafted to perfection.” Then Van Damme does what may be the most epic splits ever done between two trucks set to an Enya soundtrack.
The star of films such as as “Universal Soldier” (1992), “Timecop” (1994) and “The Expendables 2″ (2012), who is known as the “Muscles from Brussels” stands between two trucks that slowly move apart forcing Van Damme do to the splits. While the stunt “was set up to demonstrate the precision and directional stability of Volvo Dynamic Steering — a world first technology that makes the new Volvo FM easier to drive,” according to the ad’s YouTube page, the commercial mostly shows what a complete and total badass Van Damme still is.
The actor’s mind-blowing acrobatics went up on YouTube on Wednesday and already has been viewed more than 6 million times.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: JCVD: Jean-Claude Van Damme Kicks His Own Ass!