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Jean-Claude Van Damme

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Even in his new-and-improved packaging, Van Damme is still a gamble. Americans like their action heroes to be just that — heroic defenders of truth and justice and the American way, regardless of where they picked up their accents. Schwarzenegger hangs out with Presidents (or at least he used to) and keeps house with a Kennedy heiress. Van Damme does not.

But he has one magnificent advantage over the competition. At 32, he is 8 years younger than Seagal and 13 years Schwarzenegger's junior. He has time to make mistakes. ''I'm a young puppy,'' he says. ''I like to talk and to give my feeling away, and it's not so good sometimes.'' The puppy is a good metaphor. He's hyper but adorable. He's messy but eager to please. And for now, people are happy to clean up after him.

If only he can be trained to fo-cus, fo-cus.

Originally posted Jan 22, 1993 Published in issue #154 Jan 22, 1993 Order article reprints
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