Internet meme resurrects Jean-Claude Van Damme's career

Posted Friday, November 22, 2013 at 5:02 PM Central

by John Couture

There's a pretty good chance that you sort of recall the "actor" that is Jean-Claude Van Damme. He was in a string of highly successful action films in the 1980s, but he has long since gone the way of Arnold Schwarzenegger in terms of current film relevancy.

And yet, JCVD may be on the road back to notoriety, all thanks to an Internet/Volvo commercial/stunt that has suddenly gone viral this week. The bit involves the washed up action hero performing his "Epic Split" between two Volvo trucks that get further apart as the video plays on. For those of us action junkies from the '80s, we know better than to accuse Van Damme of trick photography. This is the real deal and props to the 53-year-old actor for maintaining that high level of flexibility.

Apparently, I'm late to the party on this as I was swamped this week, but if you haven't yet seen the original video, check it out below.

Naturally, this video has gone viral and become its own meme where others have photoshopped someone's face onto JCVD's body or tried to recreate the video on their own. I should mention right here that you SHOULD NOT try this at home. It hurts just looking at this video.

That being said, Channing Tatum isn't one to miss out on an opportunity for some free advertising. So, he created his own "Epic Split" video in character as Jenko from 22 Jump Street. As you can imagine, his "Epic Split" didn't go as well as Jean-Claude Van Damme's did.

On the bright side, this is the first official unofficial look at 22 Jump Street, so there's that. 22 Jump Street will hit theaters on June 13, 2014.