Arnold Schwarzenegger says his 'Twins' sequel is dead (original) (raw)

Arnold Schwarzenegger says his Twins sequel is dead: 'Jason Reitman f---ed it up!'

"When his father passed away, Jason says, 'I never liked the idea' and put a hold on it."

Published on May 16, 2023 11:26AM EDT

For years, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been yelling from the rooftops about how much he wants to make a sequel to director Ivan Reitman's 1988 comedy Twins with costar Danny DeVito and Eddie Murphy, who he hoped would play a new sibling of the pair. Now he's sharing why he doesn't think a Benedict family reunion will be happening anytime soon.

The actor told The Hollywood Reporter that he, DeVito, and Reitman were all onboard with the project prior to Reitman's death in February 2022 — there were even reports the previous year about Tracy Morgan's involvement in the sequel. But when the film was floated to Reitman's son,Jason Reitman, Schwarzenegger said that the Ghostbusters: Afterlife director quickly put an end to it.

"Jason Reitman f---ed it up!" he said. "Jason Reitman literally stopped the project when his father died."

He continued, "His father wanted to do it really badly. I wanted to do it really badly. Danny DeVito wanted to do it really badly. We had the financing. When his father passed away, Jason says, 'I never liked the idea' and put a hold on it."

In response, Schwarzenegger said that he's currently "developing another movie with Danny" instead, adding, "He's so much fun to work with and so talented."

EW has reached out to Reitman's representatives for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1988's 'Twins'. Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Schwarzenegger and DeVito played genetically engineered fraternal twin brothers who were separated at birth in the comedy, which also starred Bonnie Bartlett, Kelly Preston, and Chloe Webb. Decades later, their brotherhood is still going strong both on and off-screen, with the pair recently filming a Twins reunion segment for the White House Correspondents' Dinner last month.

Unfortunately, Twins isn't the only one of Schwarzenegger's sequels that's currently been placed on the back burner. He noted that a follow-up to 1982's Conan the Barbarian has been "pending for the last 10 years."

"[Fredrik] Malmberg owns the rights. He comes to me and says, 'Oh, I have a deal with Netflix,' and when we ask Netflix, they don't know anything about it. It's one of those crazy things," he said. "I hope he figures it out."

He also shared a glimpse into the direction he'd like to take the sequel, should it ever get the greenlight in the future.

"I think you do it like Unforgiven, where you play the age," Schwarzenegger said. "There's a great script out there that John Milius wrote, and others have written one. The story is there. There are directors who want to do it. But he has the rights, and until he sells the rights for one or two movies, or for the franchise, there's nothing you can do about it."

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