After the 1988 success of Cannon Films’ Hong Kong-set Bloodsport, starring the then up-and-coming Jean-Claude Van Damme, Cannon’s Menahem Golan, a regular and colorful presence at the American Film Market, was looking for a new vehicle for the Belgian-born martial arts star when writer-director Sheldon Lettich pitched a screenplay he’d written based on Alexandre Dumas’ The Corsican Brothers, about two twins separated at birth. Golan wasn’t convinced that Van Damme was ready to handle a dual role, but Lettich managed to extricate the script from Cannon and sold it to producer Moshe Diamant, who set it up, with Columbia Pictures agreeing to take domestic rights and Vision International handling international sales.
Budgeted at $15 million, 1991’s Double Impact, the most expensive project Van Damme had tackled to date, featured him as brothers Alex and Chad Wagner. “One packs a piece and the other packs a pistol,” posters for the movie proclaimed, although the real distinction between the two was that Alex relies on street-fighting and firearms, while Chad has a black belt in karate. Eager to expand his range, Van Damme explained, “One of them is violent and the other is not, so the audience can see the contrast in my work. This picture has comedy, romance, a love story. So it is not all action and fighting. When I fight onscreen, I blend dancing and fighting. Grace plus power is very nice.”
THR’s review said Lettich “gives Van Damme plenty of space for his performance, but his direction, like his star, only really comes alive during the action scenes,” though he also noted that Van Damme’s “growing legion of action fans should be pleased.” In fact, the formula found an appreciative audience, and after Double Impact grossed $80 million worldwide ($190.8 million today), Van Damme would go on to make three more movies — 1996’s Maximum Risk and 2001’s Replicant and The Order — in which he again doubled up to play dual roles.