Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 122

Marcial Cinema
he is up to 12 dogs now in his house and his wife
loves them as much as JC does but I cannot
imagine all the work there is in maintaining them all.
We asked acclaimed martial arts director Isaac
Florentine (Undisputed 2, The Shepherd: Border
Patrol) if he could share any true stories of JeanClaude, and he told us the following;
“We were in the North Hollywood Muay Thai gym.
He was sparring with Malaipat a Rajadamnern Stadium
Champion in Bangkok Thailand who has over 150
fights and he threw the most perfect hook kick you
can imagine and just touched Malaipat's cheek with
it. When he could have easily hit him but he didn't
out of total respect. Then about 3 days later I was at
his place going over a script and the conversation like
always turned to martial arts and fighting as he knows I
love training and right in his kitchen he stood up asked
me to stand there and he thru an absolutely perfect
roundhouse kick full speed and power and touched me right on
the nose perfect control and that really impressed me that he
had so much control.”
Rising star Scott Adkins who has worked with JeanClaude on four movies to date including The Expendables
2, and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning in a recent
interview recalled JC ringing him up to congratulate him on
his recent marriage. While some would expect some
insecurity between an established star like Jean-Claude
and someone who could well be viewed as a contender
for similar roles, JC takes it in his stride and offers his
support and encouragement.
There's also a story that Don would probably be
the first to tell you, Don may now be a fixture in
Los Angeles, but he's actually a Canadian. And
when he moved to the States some 15 years