One of the more infamous behind-the-scenes Hollywood tales of the 1980s is the fact that Jean-Claude Van Damme nearly starred as the titular character in John McTiernan’s Predator. Indeed, the future Muscles from Brussels, who at the time was totally unknown, having only appeared as the villain in No Retreat, No Surrender. It was poised to be his Hollywood debut. However, Van Damme was only on set for two days, and according to the book Last Action Heroes by Nick De Semlyen (buy it here), his departure might have had something to do with the fact that he’d be completely covered up for the entire film in a costume. 

According to co-screenwriter Jim Thomas, “I think he was under the impression that he was going to be the hero,” adding, “and then he kind of erupted when they asked him to get into the suit. It was disastrous. But wearing that suit had to have been an impossible ordeal, due to the temperature.”

Van Damme himself addressed his firing, saying that the suit made it impossible for him to display any of the martial arts talents they hired him for, and that he quickly became dehydrated and found it impossible to perform. “I’ve got my friend next to me and I said, ‘Man, I ain’t going to make it.’ It’s boiling hot … I started to panic. When Joel asked me to jump, I knew it was going to be a bad one. I said, ‘This is impossible, Joel. I think we’re going to have a problem.’ Then he replaced me.”

In the book, McTiernan scoffs as JCVD’s suggestion, saying, “what, do you’d have a monster from outer space come down and be a judo expert?”

Now, one important thing to note is that the suit JCVD had to wear in Predator wasn’t the one Kevin Peter Hall would later wear. The original suit, which was considered a disaster, looked, according to the book, like a lizard with the head of a duck. Here’s a look:

McTiernan, remembering the original design, said “it was awful… it came in a box and Joel Silver and I looked at it and said, ‘we’re in deep shit’”. In the end, the Predator was totally redesigned by Stan Winston, with James Cameron of all people suggesting the ironic mandibles. The movie, of course, became a smash hit. As for JCVD, he went on to star in Cannon’s Bloodsport, and the world fell in love with the Belgian action hero, who quickly became one of the biggest action icons of his era.