Arnold Schwarzenegger’s True Lies Was Needed After His Box Office Bomb

In the summer of 1993, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in Last Action Hero, a film that Sony Pictures billed as “the next great summer action movie” ahead of its release. There was a reason for the confidence in both the actor and the film as it was his next movie following the incredible success of 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which ended the year as the highest-grossing film of 1991 after grossing $520.8 million at the global box office. Schwarzenegger hadn’t experienced a true bomb in his career, and the summer of 1993 was supposed to be his chance to win again until it wasn’t.

Despite being considered a bit of an underrated cult classic now, Last Action Hero was met with disappointing reviews and box office, leading to a loss for Sony Pictures. It was a failure that the actor has recently revealed affected him greatly, but he would rebound a year later with another reteam with director James Cameron in 1994’s True Lies. The movie gave Schwarzenegger back his box office crown by playing to his strengths, letting him do his best James Bond impression (in the best way), fusing action and comedy, and giving him a game partner in Jamie Lee Curtis, leading to a film that still holds up 30 years later as one of his very best films.

Was Last Action Hero Ahead of Its Time?

The intentions behind Last Action Hero, at least today, were a bit ahead of their time. Directed by John McTiernan, who scored with Schwarzenegger in the ’80s with Predator, the film was intended to be a satire of the action films that made the actor a star. The actor starred as Jack Slater, a character within the series of Jack Slater action films adored by Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien), a young boy who uses the movies to escape his less-than-desirable life.

Thanks to a magic golden ticket, Danny is transported into the Slater universe of movies. Eventually, one of the film’s villains, Mr. Benedict (Charles Dance), is transported into the real world. The film is essentially meta and self-referential throughout, doing those two things before they became more commonplace, arguably with the release of Scream in 1996. In many ways, it was ahead of its time, but banking on Schwarzenegger’s name and popularity would not be enough to save the movie from its fair share of issues, with warning signs being evident before the film hit the big screen.

Last Action Hero Turned Into a Critical and Financial Disappointment

Last Action Hero went through a few hands, originally written by Zak Penn and Adam Leff before shifting to Shane Black to rewrite a script that, oddly enough, was a sort of satire of the very action films that Black was known for writing. Even after Black did a rewrite, the screenplay went through several script doctors, resulting in a final cut that felt tonally inconsistent when it was finally released.

Was it made for kids? Was it made for adults? Was it a meta attack on Hollywood? Because it tried to be so many things at once, it ultimately didn’t succeed at anything for moviegoers. Adding to its dilemmas, it was released a week after Jurassic Park, a film that dominated the summer of 1993 and left everything in its wake. The end result for Last Action Hero was lackluster reviews (registering a 40% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and underperforming at the box office, grossing $137.3 million worldwide on an $85 million budget. The loss on the film was a reported $26 million, a blow for Sony Pictures but an even bigger blow against Schwarzenegger’s ego.

Related

Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Became James Cameron’s ‘Village Idiot’ While Filming True Lies

James Cameron revealed why he called Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘the village idiot’ on the set of True Lies film.

During a moment in Schwarzenegger’s Netflix docuseries, Arnold, the actor recalls the failure of Last Action Hero and how it affected him at the time. Schwarzenegger said, “When Last Action Hero came out I had reached my peak after Terminator 2, having the most successful movie of the year worldwide, I cannot tell you how upset that I was [about the negative Last Action Hero reviews]. It hurts you. It hurts your feelings. It’s embarrassing. I didn’t want to see anyone for a week, but you keep plodding along.”

The actor’s attitude following the film’s poor performance is echoed by director James Cameron, who gave Arnold his first significant signature role in 1984’s The Terminator. The director recalled speaking to Schwarzenegger the weekend after the film opened and said it was the first and only time he’d “ever heard him down.” Cameron went on to say, “He took it as a deep blow to his brand. I think it really shook him.”

Cameron and Schwarzenegger Teamed Up for True Lies

True Lies

Release Date

July 15, 1994

Runtime

144

Perhaps it was hearing his buddy’s despondent nature that resulted in their third collaboration together. True Lies seems almost in line with Last Action Hero in a sense because it plays around a bit with the conventions of action comedy and spy films while also presenting its situations in a way that is legitimate and top-notch. In the movie, based on the 1991 French comedy La Totale, Schwarzenegger stars as Harry Tasker, a man working as a U.S. government agent while living the life of a family man with a wife and daughter. Harry is hiding his professional life from his wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), but that all gets compromised when Harry thinks Helen is having an affair because his secret job has kept him away from home. Due to a series of whacky events, Helen becomes involved in Harry’s world, leading to great comedy and action, all wrapped into a polished package as only Cameron could present it.

True Lies allows Schwarzenegger to poke fun at his action persona a bit but also allows him to be convincingly debonair. If Last Action Hero only allowed him to be the butt of the joke, True Lies enabled him to get a laugh while looking refreshingly dapper in a suit. The role plays to the actor’s strengths, who is no stranger to scoring in comedies thanks to films like Twins and Kindergarten Cop, while also showcasing that he was still one of the top action stars working at the time. The movie even allows the actor to channel his inner James Bond, a role he would never realistically land, but True Lies makes a case that he could at least pull off the necessary swag as a spy and secret agent. When he engages in a sexy tango with Tia Carrere, the audience buys the smolder and believes he could woo the Wayne’s World bombshell.

True Lies Is a Showcase of Schwarzenegger’s Comedic and Action Prowess

Despite showcasing some chemistry with Carrere in that moment, his true spark comes courtesy of Jamie Lee Curtis, who shines in a role that has her beginning as a meek and mild working wife and mother before turning her into a sexy would-be spy herself. Much of the film’s humor comes from Harry having to keep this big secret from Helen while also suspecting she’s hiding a secret affair from him.

Since he feels that she’s lacking excitement in her life, which he believes has led her to commit adultery (she hasn’t), he creates a situation for Helen that allows her to go on her own secret mission, completely controlled by him. It’s a plot point from which the audience gets a lot of mileage, especially knowing it can only go hilariously wrong in the end. Ask any fan of True Lies, and they’ll likely tell you that the most hilarious sequence sees Helen having to seduce someone she believes to be a mysterious stranger who turns out to be her husband. It’s a showcase of adept physical comedy for Curtis and only solidifies the strong comedic chemistry the duo possesses. Did audiences have Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis on their golden comedic supercouple bingo card? Likely not, but it works.

1:24

Related

Exclusive: James Cameron Remembers Forcing Arnold Schwarzenegger to Cast Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies

In this BTS clip, James Cameron says Arnold Schwarzenegger thought Curtis was too beautiful for the role.

True Lies is a perfect cocktail of many elements. It’s a fun action comedy with some exhilarating action sequences bolstered by a strong cast that is clearly having a good time. It’s also the most fun Cameron has had as a director, enjoying playing with the conventions of spy games while giving the ’90s one of its best action films. Schwarzenegger and Cameron have never failed together when paired as actor and director. They have the secret sauce for success, which only seems fitting that this reunion made moviegoers and the industry as a whole forget about the disappointment of Last Action Hero.

When True Lies was released on July 15, 1994, the film topped the box office with a gross of $25.8 million and became a huge hit by the end of its run. The movie ultimately grossed $146.2 million domestically and $378.8 million worldwide on a $115 million budget, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 1994 in the process. Critics also responded favorably, with the film pulling in a 70% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert’s review of the movie at the time hit the nail on the head as to why the film succeeded, whereas maybe Last Action Hero didn’t.

“It’s the stuff that we go to Arnold Schwarzenegger movies for, and True Lies has a lot of it: laugh-out-loud moments when the violence is so cartoonish we don’t take it seriously, and yet are amazed at its inventiveness and audacity.”

Every actor or actress has successes and failures. That comes with changing viewing habits and not everything hitting in a way that they probably all hope. It’s all about recovering from the failures and plotting your next move. It was brilliant for Schwarzenegger to link up with Cameron again after Last Action Hero on True Lies. With a single movie, the actor reminded audiences why he was one of the best to do it and that he still had what it took to entertain the masses. Last Action Hero is streaming on Pluto TV. True Lies is streaming on Hulu.