It seems that Arnold Schwarzenegger has enamored the audience with his presence to such an extent that a remake of his movies might be out of the question. Starring in Commando, the actor found a new respect for his role after The Terminator and people loved him.
There were talks of a remake of his classic 1985 movie helmed by director David Ayer (from Suicide Squad fame). The project did not make it to the air, however, and the writer of the original movie had one condition to pass. As per the reports, the writer felt that only The Rock would look good in the remake.
Only The Rock Could Star In Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Remake
Although Commando did not gain rave reviews for its story, the movie did receive critical and commercial success. Citing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the reason, Commando received the love and adoration of people from around the world as the movie became one of the classics in Hollywood.
Director David Ayer wanted to remake the movie some time back but the project was quickly scrapped off. Steven E. de Souza, one of the writers of the original movie talked about David Ayer, the scrapped remake, and his condition that would allow them to create a remake truly equivalent to the original 1985 movie.
“You need this unique character and they’re just not in motion pictures. I guess you could do it with The Rock but The Rock isn’t going to do a reboot of something. I don’t think a reboot is worth doing but if they do it, please put in the original ending!”
The original ending that de Souza referred to was changed for budgetary reasons back in 1985 while Schwarzenegger was shooting Commando. The writer jokingly blamed The Terminator actor’s rival Sylvester Stallone for the changed ending.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando Ending Was Quite Different
Back when the rivalry was high between Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, there was an underlying competition about who kills more people on-screen. Stallone created a massacre in Rambo: First Blood Part II which resulted in Schwarzenegger wanting more massacres in Commando.
Adding more scenes to the movie, the studio quickly ran out of budget and the original ending that they had planned was shifted to a one-on-one fight in a basement with a metal rod ending the movie. As per the writer, the original ending included Schwarzenegger running through a private island with a handful of the villain’s goons being taken down by the actor,
The budget went so overboard that they scrapped that ending since filming on a private island became too expensive for the studio. The ending was quickly transferred to a basement pipe where our Commando emerged victorious in the end.
The 1985 classic is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
Source: Radio Times
