Canceled Arnold Schwarzenegger Action Sequel Is Still Something His Oscar-Winning Co-Star Would Love to See

Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis has always hoped she could reprise her role as Helen Tasker, the wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s undercover spy Harry, in a sequel to James Cameron’s action comedy True Lies. While she’s now largely associated with her legacy in the Halloween franchise, Curtis is eager for a long-awaited legacy return to the action franchise that she says changed her life “in a big way.”

Curtis has already reprized several characters from years gone by in the Halloween and Freaky Friday universes. The nostalgic sequels saw the Oscar-winning actor easily fit into two of her most notable roles again after all these years. While talking to Entertainment Tonight, Curtis addressed the chances of bringing another iconic character back for more – this time, in a sequel to True Lies:

“I always hoped that Arnold [Schwarzenegger] and I would get to do True Lies again. I don’t think that’ll happen because it could only happen if Jim Cameron wrote it. I don’t think we would ever do it without him. That was obviously a movie that changed my life in a big way.”

Plans for a True Lies sequel were immediately set in motion after the first film. The problem was that Cameron decided to make Titanic instead. After that Oscar-winning box office success, Cameron brought True Lies 2 back to the table, and Curtis and Schwarzenegger even signed up to reprise their roles.

But development took too long, and following the 9/11 attacks, Cameron said felt that the landscape no longer fit an action comedy about terrorism. “We all felt that sense of devastation. It just wasn’t funny anymore,” the filmmaker said at the time. “I tried it, we worked on a script for a while. If you couldn’t make it funny, it didn’t seem worth it.”

‘True Lies’ Is James Cameron’s Most Underrated Movie (If There Can Be Such a Thing)

Helen and Harry about to kiss in true lies20th Century Fox

Fresh off the success of starring in another James Cameron sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in one of his most criticized projects. Last Action Hero was a divisive movie that had a lukewarm reception at the box office, despite the actor’s Hollywood status at the time. Schwarzenegger needed to make a hit film, and he found it by reuniting with the director that had landed him the title of the Terminator.

1994’s True Lies was an ambitious project. Its production budget was set at $120 million (it was one of the first movies to go beyond the $100 million mark). But it was worth it, as Cameron’s vision for pure, raw action resulted in an award-winning blockbuster that grossed $379 million. His drive to make a grand-scale thriller, the presence of Hollywood’s greatest action icon at the time, and the elaborate set pieces and stunts made True Lies a film like no other. It had humor, it was thrilling, and it featured a distinctly American response to James Bond in the form of Harry Tasker.

Not only is it Cameron’s most underrated movie, but some argue that it has aged extremely well. It belongs to an era of ambitious studio filmmaking. Today, many of its sequences would be completed with the help of visual effects, and though CGI was starting to grow as a helpful movie resource in 1994, Cameron’s original vision of practical effects was never compromised. True Lies is a white-knuckle celebration of the action genre, but, despite Jamie Lee Curtis’ eagerness to return, one can’t help but wonder if a sequel would work in the modern era.

Release Date

July 15, 1994

Runtime

141 minutes

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