In what could be either the coolest or craziest news of the day, Variety is reporting that action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger is in negotiations to star in the remake of Troma's THE TOXIC AVENGER. While Ah-nuld will not be playing Toxie, he is in talks for another lead role in the reimagining of the 1980's cult hit.
International Film Trust, the sales outfit launched last week by Benaroya Pictures and Miscellaneous Entertainment, is pitching Steve Pink’s reboot of the campy 1984 action comedy in the run-up to Cannes. New project has been described as an action adventure geared toward mainstream auds.
Schwarzengegger is talks with the producers to star. HOT TUB TIME MACHINE helmer Pink and Daniel C. Mitchell penned the script while Elysium Films is attached to produce, along with Akiva Goldsman, Richard Saperstein, Charlie Corwin and Michael Benaroya.
Troma Entertainment’s Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman directed the original 1984 pic, which initially flopped before gaining cult popularity through midnight screenings. THE TOXIC AVENGER went on to spawn three sequels, a musical and a cartoon.
The original films story centers around Melvin Ferd III, a 98-pound weakling who gets transformed into a superhuman crime-fighting creature after falling into a vat of toxic waste. Set to be introduced to buyers at Cannes 2013, the upcoming reimagining of THE TOXIC AVENGER is currently in pre-production and scheduled to start principal photography this fall.
Loosely based on Lloyd Kaufman’s classic Troma franchise, THE TOXIC AVENGER is the tale of a high-school kid who gets dunked in a vat of toxic waste by a corrupt chemical company. He survives the ordeal with one major side effect: Upon contact with toxic chemicals, he transforms into a monster with superhuman strength. Schwarzenegger would play “the Exterminator,” a former black ops agent, who trains Toxie to use his powers for good. Together they take on the lurking menace created by the polluters and the polluters themselves.
And suddenly I'm A-OK with this. Schwarzenegger as the "Exterminator"? I'm in!
More on THE TOXIC AVENGER as we hear it.