Last Action Hero
This isn't the movies anymore.
Production
Budget
$85 000 000
Revenue
$137 298 489
Director
Scenario
Zak Penn
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jack Slater / Self
Austin O'Brien
Danny Madigan
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras
Whitney / Meredith
F. Murray Abraham
John Practice
Art Carney
Frank
Charles Dance
Benedict
Frank McRae
Lieutenant Dekker
Tom Noonan
Ripper / Tommy Noonan
Short description
Danny Madigan is a young movie fan who spends as much time as he can in the cinema, especially watching the adventures of Jack Slater, an unkillable Los Angeles cop. When the theatre's elderly projectionist gives him a magic ticket, Danny is pulled through the screen and into Slater's latest film, where he becomes part of the action alongside his idol. The situation turns harder once a villain from that fictional world uses the same ticket to reach New York, forcing the boy and the detective to follow him into reality, where Slater's immunity to harm no longer applies.
John McTiernan directed and produced the film, his sixth feature, arriving between The Hunt for Red October and Die Hard: With a Vengeance, from a screenplay by Shane Black and David Arnott. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays both the fictional cop and a version of himself, with Austin O'Brien as Danny, Charles Dance as the villain Benedict, and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, F. Murray Abraham and Art Carney in supporting roles; 65 cast members and 218 crew are credited.
Released in June 1993, the film cost about 85 million dollars and returned roughly 137 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.5 out of 10 from around 174,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.5 from just over 3,000. A critics' rating of 5.1 from 55 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, the role of Benedict was intended for William Atherton.
- The studio set a release date of June 18, 1993. Test screenings were held on May 1, 1993, the results of which were, to put it mildly, far from ideal. The studio was unwilling to move the premiere to August. One of the main reasons for the film's box office failure was insufficient time for reshoots and post-production after the test screenings. To meet the premiere date, work on the film continued until the last week before release.
- Steven Spielberg was offered the opportunity to direct the film, but he declined, opting to make "Schindler's List" (1993) instead.
- Art Carney's last film.
- Charles Dance replaced Timothy Dalton in the role of Benedict.
- The film intentionally contains errors in the sequence of events.
- According to Charles Dance, after learning he had been cast in a role Alan Rickman had turned down due to the fee, Charles wore a t-shirt on set that read, "I'm cheaper than Alan Rickman!"
- Jack Slater, attempting to impersonate Arnold Schwarzenegger in the real world, incorrectly states his name as Arnold Braunschweiger. The first part of Arnold's surname is Schwarz, which means black in German. The first part of the surname Slater uses is Braun, which means brown in German.
- Danny tells Jack that this is Meredith/Whitney’s first film. "Last Action Hero" marked the film debut of Bridget Wilson, who played Meredith/Whitney.
- In the opening credits of "Jack Slater IV," in addition to Arnold Schwarzenegger, director Franco Columbu and actor Murray Josephson are listed. Incidentally, Columbu is a longtime acquaintance of Schwarzenegger and participated in almost all of his films, playing tiny roles. In 1994, Schwarzenegger repaid the favor – he participated in the promotional campaign for Columbu's film "Island of Beretta" and even played a role in it.
- Michael V. Gazzo's last film.
- The premiere of the fourth part of 'Jack Slater' was filmed on Times Square. The shooting lasted 7 days from 3:00 PM to 3:00 AM. Seven blocks were closed off.
- After Frank's house explodes, one of the police officers says, "Two days to retirement." This line is a parody of Danny Glover's character in "Lethal Weapon" (1987).
- In the 'Blockbuster' store, and also in the newspaper that Benedict is reading, you can see advertisements for 'Dracula' (1992) and 'Single White Female' (1992).
- Producer Mark Canton acquired the script for $350,000.
- The guns in the film: Benedict – Dan Wesson .357 revolver; Slater – Desert Eagle .50 Action Express; Danny – SIG-Sauer P230; Vivaldi – Walther PPK; Hamlet – MAC-11 and MP5K; Whitney – Colt Python .357 Magnum.
- In the "Blockbuster" store, you can find video cassettes of the films "Die Hard" (1988), "The Hunt for Red October" (1990), and "Medicine Man" (1992), all directed by John McTiernan.
- "Last Action Hero" was the first film released in the SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound) audio format. It was also the first film released in a 7.1 channel SDDS mix.
- Danny says that John Practice (F. Murray Abraham) killed Mozart, referencing "Amadeus" (1984), where Abraham played Antonio Salieri.
- After Benedict kills the mechanic and wants to confess to the crime, a person carrying recently stolen boots can be seen in the background.
- The film featured two actors who had previously played the role of Antonio Salieri: F. Murray Abraham in "Amadeus" (1984) and Ian McKellen, who played Salieri in Peter Shaffer's stage production.
- The schoolteacher who talks about Shakespeare, Hamlet, and Laurence Olivier is Joan Plowright, a British actress and Olivier's third wife.
- The song "Big Gun" by AC/DC was specifically written for the film at the personal request of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- Adam Leff and Zak Penn wrote the original screenplay, which was titled “Extremely Violent.” The screenplay differed significantly from the finished film. When Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to star in the film, he demanded that the title be changed to “Last Action Hero” and that the screenplay be substantially rewritten. Initially, Shane Black and David Arnott rewrote the screenplay, significantly altering the narrative, and then William Goldman polished it, for which he received a fee of $1 million.
- Tony Curtis was originally intended to play a cameo role.
- The explosion of Jack Slater's ex-wife's house was borrowed from "The Last Boy Scout" (1991), whose screenplay was also written by Shane Black.
- Scenes from the film "Thunderheart" (1992) are playing on the monitors in the "Blockbuster" store.
- Ian McKellen played Death, a character from Ingmar Bergman's film "The Seventh Seal" (1957). In Bergman's film, Bengt Ekerot played this role.
- "Last Action Hero" was the first film advertised in space. For $500,000, the film's title was painted on an unmanned NASA rocket.
- According to Charles Dance, the role of Benedict was written for Alan Rickman.
- Robert Zemeckis was offered the opportunity to direct the film.
- Dying from electric shock at the end of the film 'Ripper,' he cries out the familiar phrase: 'I’ll be back!'
- When Danny and Slater enter the police station, Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick exit through the doors, portraying Catherine Tramell (from "Basic Instinct" (1992)) and T-1000 (from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991)), respectively.
- After Benedict and Slater played "chicken," Danny tells Jack to check if Benedict is dead, referencing *Die Hard* (1988), in which one of the villains, believed to be dead, returns at the end of the film. John McTiernan directed *Die Hard* (1988).
- In the "Blockbuster" store, there's a poster for the film "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991), but instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger, it features Sylvester Stallone.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
