It’s the strangest thing – when Arnold Schwarzenegger exited public office there was a keen flurry of activity regarding his supposedly inevitable return to the big screen. Rumours and remakes flew around our heads, a barely credible cartoon entity was teased but now comes a report that one of the most recognisable faces and names in the business will be reprising a role which made him famous.
Deadline are reporting that Arnie is attaching himself to the Terminator package which will be shipped around to the studios in the coming days. Justin Lin, the man behind the critical juggernaut that is Fast Five has been strategically placed on the roster and there’s no doubt the man knows his way around an action set piece, but there is a lot more to the (successful) Terminator films than that.
It’s a common trend in Hollywood to revisit characters, Gordon Gekko and Indiana Jones are two recent examples and the third Bill and Ted films will see the Wyld Stallyns pushing 50, so Arnie returning to the franchise which made his name isn’t particularly surprising – given that it was teased a few months ago along with various other remakes and reboots.
He put in an appearance of sorts in the recent McG film, Terminator: Salvation as a CGI version of the original model, unless there’s a return to the past for the series instead of sticking with the post Salvation world who knows where an aged Terminator would fit?
