We Can Honestly Say We've Never Seen Anything Like the Stunt a 53-Year-Old Jean-Claude Van Damme Pulled Off With Two Semi-Trucks

Friends and fans call him "JCVD" or "the muscles from Brussels." His name is Jean-Claude Van Damme. The action film star from Belgium became famous for executing some impressive on-screen martial arts tricks, like the 360-degree spinning kick compiled by VanDammeFanz.

At 53-years-old,Van Damme doesn't make the same kind of movies he made in the past, but he's still in pretty good shape. In fact, he's still nimble enough to do the splits and that was just what the people at Swedish car maker Volvo needed to promote the new Volvo Dynamic Steering.

Image: YouTube - Volvo Trucks

In a just-released commercial, Van Damme is seen balancing between two Volvo semis, driving in reverse. According to the company, the commercial was shot in one take. While they needed just one take to capture what Volvo is called "The Epic Split," but there was considerable preparation before the shoot.

Image: YouTube - Volvo Trucks

After weeks of planning, the event was set up on a closed airport runway in Spain. Director Andreas Nilsson explained the basics to Van Damme, even allowing the star to drive one of the trucks and experience the precision steering firsthand. And then it was "go time." Despite claiming that he had never done this kind of a stunt before, JCVD executed the split on the first and only take.

The clip is impressive and has already gone viral. In less than 24-hours, (and despite a less-than-macho Enya soundtrack) the English language version of this video has generated more than five million views on YouTube:

Reading the comments section under the YouTube video, many folks are showering JCVD with praise, but there are those who think the stunt was accomplished using some cinematic trickery. What do you think? Did Jean-Claude Van Damme accomplish this stunt as presented? Might the spot have been filmed with the trucks going forward, but then shown in reverse, as others have speculated? Take our Blaze poll and weigh-in with your comments.

Follow Mike Opelka on Twitter - @stuntbrain.com