Schwarzenegger Ready to Give That Hollywood Comeback Another Shot
When Arnold Schwarzenegger announced back in May that he was putting the brakes on restarting his Hollywood career after the news of his illegitimate child got out, did we assume that we'd start hearing whispers about his comeback's comeback less than two months later? No, we did not, but if what Nikki Finke is hearing is true, the guy may step in front of the cameras as soon as September. That sure seems fast.
Finke has been told that Arnold is interested in the Lionsgate project "Last Stand." Interestingly, this is something that he's been kicking around since at least April when it seemed like either a new "Terminator" or a drama called "Cry Macho" would be his first post-governor gig. But "Last Stand" will be the English-language debut of South Korean filmmaker Kim Ji-woon, who most recently did the twisty revenge thriller "I Saw the Devil." The director described "Last Stand" to Slashfilm back in February:
"[I]t's kind of a combination of 'Die Hard' and 'High Noon' where [the latter] was about protecting something very important that needs to be protected, while 'Die Hard' is a very drawn-out, long process that almost kills someone in the process, so my film will be something that has to be very well protected and in the process, we almost die protecting it in a way. So if 'I Saw the Devil' was about a person's extreme remorse about having lost something that they couldn't protect, 'The Last Stand' would be where someone puts their lives on the line to protect something that's very important and it will be a bit more optimistic film in that regard."
A Lionsgate insider boiled it down a little more succinctly to Finke, calling it "an old-fashioned Western specifically designed for a 63-year-old broken-down guy with a moral decision whether Arnold decides to stand up for his town."
If "Last Stand" indeed is the horse Arnold's backing for his Hollywood comeback, it makes some sense. From everything we know about "Last Stand," it's a movie where Schwarzenegger plays a down-on-his-luck guy who finds his shot at redemption. Sort of like Sylvester Stallone with "Cop Land" or even Mel Gibson with "The Beaver." In other words, a redemption tale, which is one of the easiest way for aging or disgraced stars to ask the audience, "So ... we're cool, right?" Just one word of warning for Arnold, though: "Cop Land" and "The Beaver" both bombed.
Arnold Books 'Last Stand': Western To Test Schwarzenegger's Post-Scandal Popularity [Deadline]
