For about an hour Friday evening, a block along Ottawa’s Bank Street was turned into a scene right out of Hollywood.

Hundreds of people crammed the sidewalk for a red carpet movie premiere.

The film is called Kickboxer Vengeance, a Hollywood remake of 1989’s Kickboxer starring Jean Claude Van Damme. It’s the story of an American martial artist who travels to Thailand to avenge his brother’s death at the hands of a brutal kickboxing champion.

The action legend himself returns for the film, but this time Van Damme plays the mentor to the man who replaces him in the lead role.

The new star? Ottawa martial arts instructor and movie stunt man, Alain Moussi.

“It's a dream come true,” says Moussi. “I mean, I've wanted to do this since I was a kid. I was inspired by Jean Claude Van Damme to start training in martial arts and now here I am remaking a movie that inspired me to start."

The movie premiered in L.A. earlier this month, but Moussi wanted to hold a special premiere in his home town.

So how did a relative newcomer from Ottawa manage to score the lead role in a Hollywood action film?

Moussi was doing some stunt work on a film in Montreal and caught the notice of L.A. producer and director, Dmitri Logothetis. “They were martial arts stunts because we were working on a martial arts film. And Alain stood out,” says Logothetis. “And I just kept looking and I was thinking, wow, this guy's really good." When Logothetis decided to re-boot the Kickboxer franchise, he encouraged Moussi to audition.

Now the Ottawa man finds himself in some pretty heady company. As martial arts movies go, this one has some heavyweight names including wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) and mixed martial arts stars like Georges St. Pierre (Captain America: Winter Soldier) and Gina Carano (Deadpool, Fast & Furious 6.)

Moussi says it has long been his dream to become an actor. He just didn’t quite imagine this to be his break-out role. “When they called cut I had to stop and just appreciate this moment in time because I'm like, oh my God, Jean Claude Van Damme is kicking at my head! Can you believe this?"

That might not sound like a good thing to some people, but it just might kick start the career of Hollywood's newest action star.