After eight long years away from the movies in favor of, you know, being the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was on his way to an acting comeback in a big way. After circling several projects, the Austrian Oak agreed to star in the drama “Cry Macho,” about a horse trainer in a kidnapping plot from “The Lincoln Lawyer” director Brad Furman, before reprising his most iconic role in a new “Terminator” film directed by “Fast Five” helmer Justin Lin.
But then things suddenly unraveled, with the news last weekend that Schwarzenegger had separated from his wife, Maria Shriver, and the subsequent revelation that he’d fathered a love child during an affair with an employee 10 years ago. While we’re sure it’s not even in the top 10 worst things done by a movie star in 2001, Schwarzenegger’s political career change means that the story was big news, dominating the headlines and gossip pages in recent days. And it looks like it might have put a hold on his big comeback.
USA Today report that Schwarzenegger’s office have asked CAA, his agency, to put all film projects on hold for the moment for personal reasons, saying “Governor Schwarzenegger is focusing on personal matters and is not willing to commit to any production schedules or timelines. This includes “Cry Macho”, “The Terminator” franchise and other projects under consideration. We will resume discussions when Governor Schwarzenegger decides.”
So, bad news for “Cry Macho,” which was meant to get underway in the fall, and bad news for Megan Ellison, who paid a pretty penny for the rights for the ‘Terminator’ reboot/sequel/whatever last week. It’s possible that it could only be a short-term hitch, it’s possible that the projects could be reworked or rethought (although we’ve already suffered one Schwarzenegger-less “Terminator” film, which didn’t exactly have us begging for a second), or it’s possible that the 63-year-old is now done with acting altogether. We’ll see.
