Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed on to star in “The Last Stand,” the English-language debut of Korean director Jee-woon Kim, according to Hollywood blog Deadline.
Schwarzenegger had previously been attached to the project to be helmed by the director of “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” but backed out due to the scandal which erupted due to reports he fathered a child with his housekeeper.
The movie, a Western, casts Arnold as a border-town sheriff battling a drug cartel and will begin shooting in September. The film is expected to be released by Lionsgate sometime next year.
“It’s a property which a zillion directors fell in love with: the good, the bad, the weird,” a Lionsgate exec told me when I first heard Schwarzenegger was in.
“It’s an old-fashioned Western specifically designed for a 63-year-old broken-down guy with a moral decision whether Arnold decides to stand up for his town. We always needed an iconic figure for it.”
When I asked Lionsgate if Arnold is still a star despite the scandal, an exec assured me, “I can tell you from The Expendables it was electrifying when Arnold came on. He is still a big piece of news.”
Kim, 47, is also known for the 2003 horror film “A Tale of Two Sisters,” as well as 2005 crime drama “A Bittersweet Life.”
