WOW. That was awesome!
I assume it is real because of the messages at the end. He actually looks pretty good.
Aye, that was! Ya know, I still say that JCVD is one of the best heist films I’ve ever seen and JCVD was fucking brilliant in it. And this ad is the best thing he’s done since that movie.
That is amazing! He’s 53 years old and apparently he is unaware of it.
That was well done and fun.
Just showed it to my son - is the road under the trucks’ wheels moving backwards - i.e., they filmed it in reverse and he is really coming up from the splits?
I can’t swear that they didn’t, but the fact that they are driving backwards is part of the point. That would be essentially impossible without a fancy steering system like the one they are advertising. As an added bonus, if he had fallen, he wouldn’t have been run over.
According to Volvo some unspecified safety equipment was CGIed away, but the basic stunt is real.
Helpful - thanks. I am not looking to debunk it, just trying to understand its epic-ness 
That’s what I was thinking, like he has to be at least wearing some kind of harness, otherwise this is just irresponsible (good lord when did I become my dad).
Driving a semi in reverse is very difficult, because any deviation causes the trailer to begin to jackknife - and the chances of that obviously double when dealing with two trucks going in reverse. The ad is showing off the fancy steering system that Volvo has.
Initially I thought it would be insane, since if he fell, it would be likely he’d be killed or seriously injured.
However, the trucks are going slow, and in reverse. So if he falls, he isn’t going to be hit by the trucks and, while the impact would be unpleasant, the speed is slow enough that it shouldn’t be an issue.
That’s one amazing commercial.
JCVD had always been a bit of a goof to me, kind of laughable in that he was the only one who took himself seriously. But it would seem he’s had a bit of a revival as of late and so far everything has been surprisingly good. He’s done another commercial that was very funny and effective… was it for GoDaddy? It’s self-depricating, funny and memorable, qualities I’d never have associated with him in the past.
Whatever it was I actually like him now (in small doses!), something I’d never have thought possible before.
He was also great as the villain of Expendables 2.
He’s VanDamn good!
Yeah, it was for Go Daddy. It’s one of my favorite commercials, these days, because Van Damme is so into it. Plus - bongos!
Wow, missed the edit window, but GoDaddy apparently knows what I like.
He used to be “cuter” but his face has grown to reflect his insides. Awesome. He is respectful of (serious about) what he can do/who he is. In one of his movies he leaps straight up from a kitchen floor and suspends himself from counter to counter. What I tell myself “I” look like anytime I’ve seen a mouse.
Here he is selling beer:
“My pants froze. And froze…so tight!”
JCVD is genius, and kicks Chuck Norris’s ass!
Only one of the trucks is a semi, though. The one on the left (Van Damme’s right) has no separate trailer, and it’s that one that alters its path to move the trucks farther apart for the epic split. The semi on the right goes straight backwards the whole time. You can see the guidelines in the road.
I wonder what happened after the camera stopped. Did the trucks drive back together? If one of them stopped before the other, dude would be hurting.
Still, damn impressive; trucks, drivers, split, all of that. I didn’t know a rearview mirror could carry that much weight.