Y
ou can insert you’re own “I’ll be back” joke here, because Arnold Schwarzenegger is finally making his post-political return to the big screen. The Governator is taking a role in the new film The Last Stand, from Korean director Jee-woon Kim (The Good, The Bad and the Weird).
Schwarzenegger announced that he was returning to film earlier this year, but originally planned to pick Brad Furman‘s thriller Cry Macho as his debut. After his paternity scandal earlier this year, however, the former senator is switching gears and opening with a smaller project.
The Last Stand is described as a western about a small-town sheriff who must stand against a Mexican drug cartel. Deadline described the central role as “designed for a 63-year-old broken-down guy with a moral decision.” Director Jee-woon Kim further explained the concept as “kind of a combination of Die Hard and High Noon… The Last Stand would be where someone puts their lives on the line to protect something that’s very important.”
The issue of whether audiences will buy Arnold as a small town southwestern sheriff seems moot, since people have bought him as stranger things in his glory days (Junior, anyone?). The real obstacle that Schwarzenegger is going to have to overcome is audience backlash, in light of his highly public scandal. Either way, he’ll be taking a pay cut on this project until the studios feel safe that he’s marketable again. In the mean time, I’ll be busy watching this clip. It’s way more interesting than a paternity scandal.
