Here's the latest rumors about CRUSADE and about Verhoeven and Arnold.... sigh... We never catch a lucky break with this dang project. And yesterday Mr Fleming over at Variety said Arnold was working his way into a project called BACKCOUNTRY. Reminds me of a Johnny Depp line, "Can't stop here, it's BACKCOUNTRY!!!" or something like that... Here's the rumor/scoop/whatever ya wanna call it. Grains of salt, keeps warlocks and witches away...
I was flipping through Variety when I caught the mention that Verhoeven decided to tackle Andrew Marlow's script 'The Hollow Man' This immediately got me thinking about Arnold Schwarzenegger's pet project - CRUSADE. You've mentioned this thing a couple of times with excitement (damnit.. I love the script too) and to some dismay I came across the following on a page run by a group of Arnold Fans (http://members.aol.com/PuNkGoOse/crusade.html) They gleamed some info from a person who had a chance to talk to the iron man recently…
"Crusade came up when we talked about financing. The film may get made within next 5-8 years, however Arnold will not have an acting part in the film. His production company, Oak Productions, still owns the rights to the screenplay. Right now, no one is looking to do a 120 million dollar film regarding mid-evil themes, based on the past successes of such films."
Q: "I am curious why Mr. Schwarzenegger is giving it such a distant time window for completion… 5-8 years from now"
A: "The reason Mr. Schwarzenegger gave for the rather lengthy time window, I believe, is frustration over the fact his last picture ' (I am Legend) ' was cancelled for monetary reasons. He seems to believe in the script, which he owns, and would like to see the film get made. But he is fifty, and doesn't feel it will get done in time for him to man as the star.
Once again, I think he was frustrated, and was skirting the issue with me. As you're probably aware, this film has been quite a pain for him. They green-lighted it at one point ' (for a second time) ' and pulled back when Braveheart didn't open that well."
Well, this could be hogwash, but there's no denying it has been over a decade now that Arnold has been trying to get it made and time is starting to creep up..
Regards,
Gulliver
