James Cameron has rightfully and completely justifiably earned a reputation for being a filmmaker that’s always pushing the technological boundaries of cinema, blazing a new trail for both his contemporaries and the industry as a whole to follow.
The only downside is that it’s yielded a paltry return of two movies in the last quarter of a century, and if you’re not a fan of Cameron’s Avatar, then you’re sh*t out of luck for what’s realistically going to be the rest of his career. Back when he made films on a regular basis, the Terminator 2 and Aliens director delivered True Lies in the summer of 1994, and it’s comfortably his most unabashedly and deliriously entertaining effort.
Arnold Schwarzenegger gives one of his best-ever performances, but it was Jamie Lee Curtis who ended up winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. However, the Halloween legend revealed in a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment that Arnie didn’t want her to play Helen Tasker because he knew her father, and thought the love scenes would be uncomfortable.
“Arnold knew me as Tony’s daughter. He only knew me as Tony’s daughter. He loved Tony Curtis. So I’m sure Arnold just looked at me like it’d be like kissing your niece or something … I guarantee, in fact, he did not want me to be in that movie. I think he just thought it would be weird. We knew each other a little bit socially. I just don’t think he thought of me as his leading lady. I think he thought of me as Tony’s little girl. And it was Jim who said, ‘No, I’ve written this for her. She’s the one to do this with you’.”
The dynamic between Schwarzenegger and Curtis in True Lies is easily one of the action extravaganza’s strongest suits, and it’s impossible to imagine anyone other than those two in the lead roles, although we’ll have to get used to the idea pretty quick now that the TV show is assembling its cast.