Jean-Claude Van Damme will battle past opponents in his final action movie

Deadline has reported that Jean-Claude Van Damme is set to star in What’s My Name?, a new action film which will actually be the actor’s final movie in the genre.

Pulling from Jean-Claude Van Damme’s personal and cinematic life, What’s My Name? will find the actor playing himself. After being left in a coma following a serious car accident, Van Damme wakes up with amnesia, unrecognizable to everyone, including himself. “Through a series of fights against iconic fighters from across his legendary career, Van Damme begins a quest for his own identity and life meaning. This leads him to one final match,” reads Deadline’s description. Based on a story by Van Damme, the film will be directed by Jeremy Zag with a script by Nick Vallelonga and Paul Sloan. In a statement, Jean-Claude Van Damme said:

I wanted to leave the stage but with a revisit of my career, starting with Bloodsport, the one where I started to become famous. I want this to be a new Bloodsport, but on a higher level. In the film, I am on my way down in terms of career, and as I come out of a premiere of another action movie, I am not happy because I’ve been living in hotels the past 30 years, which is actually true. We’re going to bring real elements from my real life, and what happened to me. I came from Belgium, all the way to Hollywood. I succeeded, I failed, I came back. So, I’m walking out on the street after the premiere, and boom, a car hits me because I’m drunk. When I wake up from the impact, I don’t know what’s my name, and no one recognizes me.

In addition to one final action outing from Jean-Claude Van Damme, the big draw will be the rematches between Van Damme and his former on-screen opponents. Nothing is confirmed, but Deadline says that this will likely include Universal Soldier‘s Dolph Lundgren, Kickboxer‘s Michel Qissi, and Double Impact‘s Bolo Yeung. Cross Creek is fully financing What’s My Name? with Cross Creek’s Tyler Thompson producing alongside Jeremy Zag and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Director Jeremy Zag said that What’s My Name? will shoot in Paris and that the film will be a “real action mainstream movie where we treat JC as a real human super hero.” The actor is currently doing everything he can to get into fighting shape for the movie, but plans to take it easy and travel the world once shooting is over. “I’ve bought a small boat,” Van Damme said. “Not a big boat, that’s not for me. But I want to go around the world, and relax. “I work all my life, I live all my life in hotels for 30 years. That all will be explained in the movie, how I became far away from my family. After this, I want to relax and enjoy my life and family, because life goes by fast.”