The beautiful mind of Van Damme

JCVD is hitting the screens in the US this weekend. Here are the best bits from an interview Van Damme gave to NY Magazine. Genius:

I don't have a bad relationship. I'm 48 years old. I think life is too short for that. To me, life is... you open the shutters, you see the dogs outside, you look left, you look right, in, what, a second and a half? And that's a life.

It allowed you to be more vulnerable onscreen?
It's not that. It was that the story becomes you. And then suddenly you don't follow the script anymore, the script is following you. If you're that good as an actor, the script is behind you, it's over. You're living the film.

Was there a point where the movie was cutting too close to real life? Or were you encouraging the directors to take more from reality?
I saw myself on the screen — I was disturbed. I was not like, "Wow, I made a great movie, some great action." No, no, no — I was disturbed for a couple of days. The truth is like, why did I open myself so much? I opened the fruit, I peeled the skin, I cut the pulp. I put the pit, and I cut the pit, and I show inside the pit to the audience. I didn't just cut the pulp, you know what I'm saying?

... Can you tell me about the movie you're directing, Full Love?
Oh, the movie, it could be great, but I don't know if it's good for my career. It's a tough movie where I like to tell the truth from the movie point of view, where I take the audience into a story. It makes sense and no sense at all, but at the end they'll understand why it makes sense. And between the ending and the movie, something will happen… Something will happen.