We all know Arnold Schwarzenegger terminated the 1980s as the premiere action movie star alongside Stallone, but what about the 90s? Beyond Total Recall, T-2: Judgment Day, and True Lies, what’s the best Arnie action flick released between 1990 and 1999? And when we mean best, we don’t mean box office success, we’re talking about old-school ass-kicking Schwarzenegger action hinting at the halcyon days that date back to Commando and Conan the Barbarian. Is it Last Action Hero? End of Days? Or is it Chuck Russell’s underrated 1996 conspiracy espionage thriller Eraser? If you said Junior, Jingle All the Way, or Batman & Robin, you may kindly show yourselves out the door this instant. Better yet, stick around, Eraser is about to wipe your memory and prove why it’s the last great Arnie action flick to blast the masses in the 1990s.
From the rocky relationship between producer and director, multiple script rewrites, expensive costs, and last-minute casting decisions, to filming the awesome action sequences, introducing the high-tech Rail Gun, obscure in-movie references, media spin-offs, and the ridiculous 2022 reboot, it’s time to reflect on the most expensive movie of 1996 and ask point blank: What Happened to Eraser?!?
Okay, so a quick plot rundown will help explain one of the biggest trivial tidbits about Eraser. Schwarzenegger stars in the movie as U.S. Marshal John Kruger, aka Eraser, a witness protection agent specializing in eliminating, or erasing, the identities of key eye-witnesses who could testify against organized criminals in court. When Kruger is assigned to Erase a whistleblowing employee named Lee Cullen, he becomes entangled in a vast conspiratorial web of deceit involving the Cyrez Corporation and its development of a high-tech rail gun, also known as an electromagnetic rifle.
Now, in the original script, the Cyrez Corporation was named Cyrex. However, a Texas-based microprocessing company named Cyrex, one of Intel’s main rivals, protested all references to Cyrix had to be removed after the movie was shot. Not only were verbal references to Cyrix altered with post-dubbing, but all visual signposts for the Cyrix Corporation had to be digitally erased, a costly process in 1996. Still, some scenes retain the abbreviation CYX, an obvious reference to Cyrix before it was changed to Cyrez.
Speaking of costly processes, it’s worth noting upfront that Eraser was the most expensive Hollywood movie of 1996, along with Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Produced by Anne and Arnold Kopleson and distributed by Warner Bros., Eraser boasted a $100 million budget headed into principal photography in 1995. Before detailing the filming process, more about Eraser’s casting and development is necessary.
For instance, while horror heads will always know Chuck Russell for his work on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and the killer remake of The Blob, the director catapulted into the mainstream following the massive success of Jim Carey’s The Mask, setting Russell up as a major Hollywood player. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger was in transition himself after the notorious flop Last Action Hero and a deliberate shift to more comedic family fare with Junior and Jingle All the Way. In the mid-90s, Russell and Schwarzenegger were busy collaborating on a different project when Eraser was sent their way. After reading the script, Russell felt Arnie was perfect for the role of John Kruger, stating:
“I see Arnold the way a lot of people do – as a mythic, bigger-than-life character – and that’s who Kruger is. The character and the scenario are based firmly in reality, but I liked the mythic proportions of this man with a strong sense of duty, a strong sense of honor, who will literally do anything to protect a noble witness. I was excited about doing a film that had heroic proportions.”
Despite Russell feeling Arnie was right for the role, Sylvester Stallone was offered the part before Schwarzenegger was cast. Yet, Stallone hated the Eraser script so much that he instantly declined the role and opted to star in Copland instead. Of course, Sly and Shwarz would cross cinematic paths more than a decade later with The Expandables and Escape Plan. Speaking of Stallone, Eraser fans may notice how similar Alan Silvestri’s score is to his musical arrangements for Judge Dredd, Stallone’s cult-classic misfire released one year earlier.
Although Tony Puryear and Walon Green are credited for the screenplay, several writers were hired to rework the Eraser script. John Milius did uncredited script work as a personal favor to Arnie following their work on Conan. Frank Darabont, Graham Yost, and William Wisher were recruited midway through production to iron out the story problems. Wisher co-wrote The Terminator and T-2 Judgment Day with James Cameron, making him a familiar fit with Arnie. John Pogue also did script rewrites for Eraser, most of his contributions did not make it into the final movie. Pogue would go on to direct the forgettable 2022 direct-to-disc reboot, Eraser: Reborn.
Along with William Wisher, cinematographer Adam Greenberg was deliberately hired to work on Eraser based on his previous experience with Arnie on both Terminator films. Schwarzenegger personally selected Greenberg, assuring the producers that he could stay on schedule while delivering visceral action sequences. The stellar Terminator pedigree partially led to Russell’s assessment that Eraser “is a crowd pleaser” that is “Still fun to watch.”
According to the making-of documentary, Arnie had his hands in every creative department. As a bona fide movie star and shrewd businessman, Arnie had an imprint on the marketing, ads, music, stunt choreography, and emphasis on the story to ensure the utmost tension and suspense. Far from a mere actor, Arnie deserves credit as a filmmaker and storyteller who contributed a lot to Eraser behind the scenes.
Apart from Arnie’s role, other actors were considered for Lee Cullen before singer and actress Vanessa Williams was cast. While Arnie’s wife Maria Shriver recommended Williams to the Koplesons, Brooke Shields was offered the role but had to decline due to scheduling issues. Megan Follows was also briefly considered before former Miss America, Williams, was paired with former Mr. Universe, Schwarzenegger.
As for U.S. Marshal Robert DeGuerin, Jonathan Pryce was considered before James Caan was cast in a rare mainstream blockbuster. According to Caan, he and Arnie got along quite well while making Eraser, stating, “Arnold and I had fun. We did that macho stuff, but we were always poking fun at it, too.”
Before the role of mobster Johnny Casteleone was given to Robert Pastorelli, everyone from Robin Williams, Rock Moranis, and Dan Aykroyd to Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, and Gene Wilder were considered. However, nothing was more important than casting the right lead, which producer Arnold Kopelson knew Schwarzenegger was right for. According to Kopleson:
“I see Arnold the way a lot of people do — as a mythic, bigger-than-life character — and that’s who Kruger is,
For many years, Arnold and I have talked about working together. I knew that `Eraser’ was the perfect project for him. When Arnold committed to the title role, I was thrilled. That thrilling feeling was reinforced each day of the production as I watched him perform. Working with Arnold has been one of the most pleasurable experiences of my filmmaking career.”
Although working with Arnie was pleasant, Kopelson DID NOT GET ALONG WELL with Chuck Russell while making Eraser. Communications virtually ceased between the two, requiring Schwarzenegger to mediate on set. Russell and Kopelson would speak to Arnie separately, and organize the logistics of the shooting schedule on their behalf. The fact that Eraser became a success is downright remarkable considering the director and producer had difficulty working together and hardly spoke while making the movie.
Speaking of the making, Eraser entered principal photography on September 13, 1995, and wrapped on March 31, 1996. The six-month film shoot began in New York, photographing in the South Bronx’s Harlem Rail Yard, Chinatown, Brooklyn Borough Hall, and Sheep Meadow in Central Park. For a certain scene set in Queens, the production team built an identical, full-scale model of a real house in the area just to be exploded on camera. Additionally, many scenes were conceived with sets built and lit but were never filmed. This contributed to the $100 million budget, as did one scene requiring a combination of animatronic, CGI, and live alligators to create what producers called Crocogators for their hybrid qualities. To wit, a romantic ending between Kruger and Cullen was filmed but discarded and replaced with reshot footage when it tested poorly.
Once filming wrapped in New York, the production moved to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, California. Believe it or not, the New York Zoo sequence set inside the Reptile House was filmed across the country on a Warner Bros. studio soundstage in Burbank, California. In addition to the studio sets, downtown locations in Los Angeles were filmed along with areas in Santa Clarita, Topanga Canyon, El Segundo, Pasadena, and Griffith Park. The interior Zoo scenes in the film were shot in an old closed-down portion of the Zoo in Griffith Park, a sprawling plot of land that also houses The Griffith Observatory and Greek Theater. The iconic locale presented a full-circle moment for Schwarzenegger, who famously filmed a scene at Griffith Observatory in The Terminator, a sequence revisited from a different perspective in Terminator: Genisys.
For the aerial action, Arnie was fitted into roughly 10 flying apparatuses for one week of filming. One of the most trying sequences to film included Kruger having to eject from a jet flying at ultra-high, 250 mph speed. According to Russell, the sequence was patched together through piecemeal editing, stating:
“These things are jigsaw puzzle pieces not only within shooting the sequence but within each shot. You had elements that were live action, elements that were miniature, sometimes computer-generated, and they’re all married together in the final processing.”
As usual, Schwarzenegger performed many of his stunts in the film (as did Williams), including when Kruger falls from roughly 65 feet in the air and performs a mid-air backflip. The scene took seven takes to nail, with skillful editing and VFX making it appear like Kruger drops down, straight past the flaming jet engine in one unbroken sequence. According to Warner Bros. official production notes:
On Warner Bros.’ Stage 16, the largest soundstage on the Burbank lot, the fuselage of the plane was constructed, and the actor was strapped into a “descender rig.” Beginning with Kruger’s desperate struggle to hang onto the door of the plane, the shot continues as he lets go, backflips through the exploding engine of the plane, and drops off into free fall. No stuntman has ever accomplished a backflip during a drop like this, but Schwarzenegger managed the feat seven times to get the shot. Onscreen, aided by inventive camera angles and special effects, Kruger appears to drop along the length of the fuselage and past the flaming engine, but no wizardry was necessary to re-create the reality of the film’s star clearly performing the stunt himself.
As for the gnarly sniper shot through the rifle scope and eyeball on the docks at the end of the film, many have noticed how it is nearly identical to a scene from Robocop 2 down to the head sniper’s precise head movements. However, it’s more of an overt reference to Carlos Hathcock, a notorious U.S. sniper during the Vietnam War who famously killed an enemy the same way.
On a more trivial note, it’s worth noting that Schwarzenegger does not utter his famous cinematic catchphrase, “I’ll be Back,” made popular in the Terminator franchise. However, Kruger does respond to a colleague, saying “I’ll Be Right Out” during an intense action sequence.
Aside from being one of Schwarzenneger’s last box-office action hits, Eraser’s most lasting legacy is introducing the world to the Rail Gun – the crucial high-tech military-grade weapon that incites the plot. Lee Cullen is put in grave danger after warning the FBI that the Cyrez Corporation has created the Rail Gun for mass consumption. According to Russell and Schwarzenegger, it was paramount for the filmmakers to create a menacing weapon rooted in reality. As Russell states:
“Rail guns are hyper-velocity weapons that shoot aluminum or clay rounds at just below the speed of light. In our film, we’ve taken existing stealth technology one step further and given them an X-ray scope sighting system. These guns represent a whole new technology in weaponry that is still in its infancy, though a large-scale version exists in limited numbers on battleships and tanks. They have an incredible range. They can pierce three-foot-thick cement walls and then knock a canary off a tin can with absolute accuracy. In our film, one contractor has finally developed an assault-sized rail gun. We researched this quite a bit, and the technology is really just around the corner, which is one of the exciting parts of the story.”
Schwarzenegger weighed in, adding:
We paid a lot of attention to making the audience feel the danger of this weapon, that anyone can be outside of your house, looking right through the walls. It really leaves you nowhere to hide. But, on top of that, we show the sophistication of the weapon in a lot of fun ways: you not only see through a building, you see a person’s skeleton and even their heart beating inside. There are some great visual effects there.”
Eraser deserves all the credit for popularizing the EM Rail Gun, a weaponized mainstay in 21st-century video games. The railgun was loosely featured in the obscure PC video game Eraser: Turnabout, an early full-motion video rail shooter released in 1997. The weapon spawned an entire genre of rail shooters that relied on firearms that operated using electricity rather than bullets. One example includes the Shock Rifle featured in Unreal Tournament, the 1999 rail shooter inspired by Eraser.
The U.S. Military created the Rail Guns in real life, although they were originally meant to be fitted on Naval Ships rather than for personal use. The same railgun featured in Eraser can be spotted in Spielberg’s Ready Player One, a gigantic cinematic easter egg full of pop-culture references. There was also an Eraser novelization by Robert Tine published in 1996. The final credits play the song “Where Do We Go From Here,” performed by Vanessa Williams.
Despite its high cost of production, Eraser wiped out the box-office competition when it blasted theaters in June 1996. The film grossed an impressive $242 million internationally, marking one of Schwarzenegger’s last bona fide hit action movies. Before the film opened theatrically, Schwarzenegger premiered Eraser in Video Village at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta Georgia ahead of a Goo Goo Dolls concert. More trivially, Eraser was among the first motion pictures released on DVD when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment offered it in December 1996.
Although Eraser’s commercial success did not warrant an immediate sequel starring The Schwarz, the poor and unnecessary Eraser: Reborn quickly came and went in 2022. The silly sequel opened theatrically in Germany before going straight-to-video elsewhere.
And that’s What Happened to Eraser. The project came about while Russell and Schwarzenegger were busy working on another movie, it required multiple revisions from high-profile screenwriters and necessitated Arnie to mediate between Russell and producer Arnold Kopelson after they did not get along well. Filming occurred on the East and West coasts, using studio sets and real locations, often combining live-action with early CGI. Yet, Eraser will likely be remembered most for introducing the world to the electromagnetic rail gun, a high-tech weapon proliferating in pop culture in the past three decades. Almost 30 years later, Eraser may also remain Scwarzenegger’s most financially successful Last Action Hero movie ever.