FROM STUNTS TO STARDOM
Canadian actor gets a kick out of following in the footsteps of his boyhood hero
Among the stars of the film Kickboxer: Retaliation are the household names Jean- Claude Van Damme (the Muscles from Brussels) and (Iron) Mike Tyson. But neither of them is the movie’s star.
Instead, doling out the film’s righteous punishment is Ottawabased actor Alain Moussi. So what’s his nickname?
“I don’t have one yet,” he laughs. “It has to be assigned.”
Then Moussi remembers that when he was a stuntman, before he became a bone-crunching leading man, they called him Moose.
As per Moose’s wishes, the world première for Kickboxer: Retaliation was in Ottawa this month. Soon after, Moussi travelled to Los Angeles and then Beirut (not coincidentally — he’s Lebanese on his father’s side) to celebrate the US$13-million film, shot in 2016 in Las Vegas and Thailand. In Canada the film is available only on iTunes, but it will play in theatres in the U.S. and internationally.
Over the past seven years of his film career, you might have seen Moussi without knowing it. Among other credits, he was the stunt double for Henry Cavill in Immortals, Jai Courtney in Suicide Squad and Hugh Jackman in X-Men: Apocalypse.
Kickboxer: Retaliation is Moussi’s second starring role. The film is a sequel to 2016’s Kickboxer: Vengeance, which itself was a reboot of the 1989 Van Damme film Kickboxer. These days, Moussi is growing his hair long for a third Kickboxer film, set to begin filming in a few months.
It was especially thrilling for Moussi to act with Van Damme, whom he calls JCVD, because a Van Damme movie inspired Moussi’s enduring passion for martial arts. When Moussi was a 10-year-old, a friend popped in a VCR tape of the 1988 Van Damme movie Bloodsport, and Moussi was hooked.
“That’s what sparked the whole thing: I’ve got to do martial arts; I’ve got to kick and do the splits; I’ve got to put on a bit of muscle, ” says Moussi, now 36.
Moussi flourished at martial-arts events while attending high school in Ottawa. In particular, he grew to love demonstrating fighting moves at well-attended stage shows. “The adrenalin rush when you are on stage, in front of thousands of people is incredible,” he says.
In his early 20s, Moussi opened a studio and was being pushed to become a mixed martial artist. Instead, he became a stuntman, working on films and TV shows shot in Montreal and Toronto.
It was as a stuntman that Moussi came to the attention of Dimitri Logothetis, the writer, producer and director behind the new Kickboxer movies. Logothetis asked Moussi to audition for the lead role. Moussi was “a total rookie,” but Logothetis gave him a shot.
During Kickboxer: Vengeance, Moussi’s nemesis was wrestlerturned-actor Dave Bautista of Guardians of the Galaxy fame, who Moussa describes as “a gentle giant.” In that film, Van Damme played his mentor. At first, Moussi was a bit awestruck by his childhood hero. Now, Moussi says of Van Damme, “We know each other and we joke around.”
In Kickboxer: Retaliation, Moussi reprises the role of Kurt Sloane, based on Van Damme’s character in the original movie, and the film’s action culminates with Moussi, who does all of his fights and stunts, facing the monolithic Icelandic strongman/actor Hafþór Júlíus (Thor) Björnsson, who portrays Gregor (The Mountain) Clegane on the TV show Game of Thrones.
“We fought together for seven days. I took such a beating,” Moussi says of sparring with the 6-foot-9, 420-pound Björnsson.