Steven Seagal and Bruce Willis almost stole Van Damme’s role in one of his most profitable films of the 1990s
‘Death Warrant’ wasn’t one of Van Damme’s most famous films of the 1990s, but it was one of his most profitable... and he almost didn’t get the role.
It is undeniable that Jean-Claude Van Damme was one of the greatest action movie heroes of the 80s and 90s, even though not all of his films from that era were equally good. This was the case with ‘Death Warrant’ (1990), a film that, although it does not usually appear in the top lists of JCVD’s best films, was one of his most profitable. What is striking is that Van Damme could have been left out of the starring role, as the producers considered hiring Steven Seagal and Bruce Willis before the Belgian star.
Van Damme could have lost his role in ‘Death Warrant’: Steven Seagal and Bruce Willis were other options considered
‘Death Warrant’ was an action thriller released in 1990, directed by Deran Sarafian and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. In this film, Van Damme played Canadian detective Louis Burke, who had to infiltrate a Californian prison to investigate a series of murders. Apart from being JCVD’s first prison-themed film—it would not be his only one—it also stood out because a very young David S. Goyer was its screenwriter, and this was the first script he was able to sell to a major studio.
Although the film was a box office success, grossing $46 million on a budget of only $6 million, one of the most striking aspects is the fact that Van Damme was not Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s first choice. As he himself revealed to a French magazine at the time—and as reported on IMDb—he had to compete with Steven Seagal for the lead role, something that surely contributed to their bitter rivalry at the time.
As if that weren’t enough, JCVD also had to contend with another rising star in the action genre, thanks to the immensely popular ‘Die Hard’ (1988): Bruce Willis himself. The production company wanted him for ‘Death Warrant’, but the actor who played the legendary John McClane was unable to participate in this project due to scheduling conflicts with the filming of ‘Die Hard 2,’ also released in 1990. In hindsight, we don’t know how Willis would have fared in the role of Burke in ‘Death Warrant’, as the numerous fights in which the character is involved seem more appropriate for an actor with real martial arts experience, such as Seagal or Van Damme himself.
‘Death Warrant’ ended up being a 100% Van Damme film, who knew how to give it his personal touch in the form of just the right dose of action, suspense, and acrobatic martial arts moves. Although this feature film did not exactly go down well with critics, its box office performance indicated that the actor had pulling power, and it became part of his long list of hits during his heyday. This anecdote also shows how, in the midst of the action movie craze of the 1990s, the fate of a project could change radically depending on which star signed the contract. Fate wanted Van Damme to leave his personal mark, and this was backed up by the box office figures.
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