As Arnold Schwarzenegger’s time as Governor of California draws to a close, having failed to tackle and alleviate the state’s spiralling billion deficit and with approval ratings at an all time low, now would seem like a better time than any for the Austrian Oak to head back to the welcoming embrace of show business. That politics lark is too much like hard work anyway, with little reward for the effort.
The Arnold Fans website is running a story in which The Terminator star reveals that he’s currently toying with three potential projects, one of which has really captured his imagination.
“Currently I’m reading three scripts. One topic/script, which I considered a long time ago before governor, is delighting me particularly. In it I would play an older soldier, who gets the order at the ending of the war to kill a bunch of kids. But he doesn’t do it and get them to safety at the risk of his life and it has all kind of adventure. This script is based on a true story!”
Although he doesn’t mention the title, the site reveals it to be With Wings As Eagles, a script from as far back as 2001, written by Randall Wallace and based on the true life story about a German officer who does not agree with his surrounding Nazi party and instead helps a band of American POWs to escape.
Sounds like an action-packed none-too-subtle reworking of Schindler’s List, and given Wallace’s past proclivity to playing fast and loose with real historical events (he wrote Braveheart, Pearl Harbour and We Were Soldiers) this could well be the case.
Unlike his contemporary in the action genre, Sylvester Stallone, Schwarzenegger also states that his days of action man may be behind him now.
“In the future I have to adapt my roles to my age. Clint Eastwood also has done it in the same way. Extreme fighting or shooting is not possible anymore. I want to be more encouraged as an actor and I believe that I can manage this challenge. I am like a sponge, which is absorbing all the knowledge and always be willing to learn all new things.”
Hmmmmm. Not sure if his thespian skills are even remotely close to that of Eastwood’s (who has also revealed himself to be a dab hand at the ole’ directing game too), but time will tell whether this once huge action star will be back as a permanent fixture on the big screen.
