It hasn’t been a good year for Arnold Schwarzenegger and his beloved franchises. Paramount has said “The Terminator” is moving forward without Arnie (though the Governator has denied it), while the actor has taken himself out of “The Expendables” series unless his good buddy Sylvester Stallone, who has recently exited, is involved. Now, yet another project that was set to renew a Schwarzenegger brand has hit a dead end.
Speaking with EW, screenwriter Chris Morgan revealed that “The Legend Of Conan” is dead. In development for a while, the film was pitched as an “Unforgiven“-style take on the character that would potentially start a new trilogy, but alas, it’s not to be.
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“At the end of the day, the studio decided that they weren’t gonna make that. I gotta say, it’s honestly a heartbreak. I love that first movie so much, so much, it’s one of my favorite movies. We had Will Beall do a draft on [the ‘Legend of Conan’ script]. He killed it. Our take was Conan, 30 years later, a story like the Clint Eastwood ‘Unforgiven.’ It was so awesome. Ultimately, the budget was big, the studio was not really sure of the title, and the relevance in the marketplace,” Morgan explained. “They ended up letting it go. I think they’re gonna look to do a TV show or something with it. But just to be associated with it, pitch it to Arnold, have him get so excited, there was a moment of magic for me, personally [laughs]. You never know, down the road we may revisit!”
So a bummer for Morgan, but I’m not sure to the movie culture at large, as no one particularly seemed over-excited about it. Meanwhile, yet another Arnie-associated project is on the way to the big screen with Shane Black‘s “The Predator.” The remake is now filming, but Schwarzenegger says he actually turned it down.
“They asked me, and I read it, and I didn’t like it, whatever they offered. So I’m not going to do that, no. Except if there’s a chance that they rewrite it, or make it a more significant role. But the way it is now, no, I won’t do that,” he told Yahoo. Black confirmed on Twitter that Arnie wanted more screen time, which is fair enough, but it doesn’t sound like the director wants to change up his script too much.
So what does have Arnie on the horizon? Well, his revenge drama “Aftermath” opens this week.
