Arnold Schwarzenegger Gets A Part In 'Kung Fury' Movie
'80s icon Arnold Schwarzenegger joins the cast of David Sandberg's Kung Fury, an '80s-inspired action-comedy sequel to a short film the director released in 2015.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Schwarzenegger will be playing the American president in the full-length film.
Kung Fury: What We Know So Far
The upcoming Kung Fury is a follow-up to the Sandberg's surprise cult favorite that was a cheesy homage to '80s martial arts action movies.
The original 30-minute short was a crowd-funded film that garnered positive responses from both critics and audiences, even earning a nomination in Cannes' Directors Fortnight. It has logged in more than 40 million views since its release.
Sandberg, who starred as well as created the original short, will return as the titular character Kung Fury, this time alongside Michael Fassbender. Schwarzenegger's fellow '80s icon David Hasselhoff has also been confirmed for the film.
The setting of the Kung Fury sequel will be Miami in 1985. After the death of one of the team, King Fury and the Thundercops disband, which allows a mysterious villain to wreak havoc in the city.
Filming is expected to be in the United States and Europe over the summer.
Sandberg's Laser Unicorns will produce, while David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith, and Aaron Schmidt are also confirmed as producers under KatzSmith Productions. Other producers include Conor McCaughen and B-Reel Films' Philip Westgren. Pelle Strandberg is executive producer under Laser Unicorns.
Schwarzenegger's Back
The former California governor has only been in a handful of films in the past few years and he has a few more coming up soon, including an untitled Terminator movie in 2019.
Terminator Genisys was a critical flop, but Schwarzenegger is positive that the next film in the franchise will be one that fans will appreciate.
"I think [James] Cameron and Tim [Miller] came up with a concept where they can continue on with the T-800 but make a whole new movie," he explains to Business Insider. "What they are doing now with this one is basically to just take a few very basic characters, like Linda Hamilton's character and my character, and dismiss everything else. Just move away from all these rules of the timeline and other characters."
Aside from his iconic T-800 role in Terminator, Schwarzenegger is planning to take over the television platform by starring and executive producing a new Amazon series entitled Outrider. The mystery show will be set in Oklahoma in the 1800s.
