Arnold Schwarzenegger has delivered multiple box-office hits, including Terminator, Total Recall, True Lies, Batman & Robin, and more, each earning $200 million & above. But the one he earned the highest on is a completely unexpected film.
Herculean Origins
Before earning $40 million for a single film in Hollywood, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a teenage bodybuilding champion from Austria. He went on to win multiple bodybuilding titles, including the Mr Olympia, which he won for the first time in 1970 in New York.
Around the same time, he was chosen for the title role in Hercules in New York (1970). While the film was a disaster, it got his foot in the door. His breakthrough film was Conan The Barbarian (1982), after which he became a household name in the action genre.
At that time, Arnold also found himself getting weary of doing action movies over and over. He wanted to try something different.
“I was so convinced that I would be great in a comedy, but I also understood the dilemma that the studios were in. The studios saw me; every time I did a movie, the movie made huge money. So it was natural to offer me another action movie,” Schwarzenegger explained in an interview.
That’s when Schwarzenegger met filmmaker Ivan Reitman of Ghostbusters fame and Robin Williams, by chance, on a ski trip in Aspen.
“He came up to me after three days of being up there in Aspen, and he said, ‘You have a side that no one has ever seen on the screen. You’re very funny,” That’s how Schwarzenegger recounted the chance meeting, as per an article. Robin Williams echoed Reitman’s opinion.
In an episode of the Howard Stern Show, Arnold recalled telling Reitman. “I need your help. I can’t do this by myself. They [production studios] won’t accept the idea of a comedy [with me in it].”
So when Reitman got back to LA, he started development on some projects they could team up on. Many projects were attempted, but the one with which Schwarzenegger connected most was one called ‘The Experiment’. That project would go on to give him his highest paycheck.
Unlikely Twins
During that time, Danny DeVito was a rising star in the comedy scene. His TV series Taxi (1978-82) had recently gathered huge success. In those days, it was rare for a TV star to make the switch to the big screen. So casting Danny DeVito & Arnold Schwarzenegger together wasn’t expected.
Schwarzenegger was an established action star, and DeVito was an upcoming name in comedy. They were poles apart in terms of their performance, their physique & on-screen auras. But this exact contrast is what made the film work. Ivan Reitman explained the origins of the unlikely pairing in an interview.
“I happened to meet [Schwarzenegger & DeVito] separately in one week, and I started thinking, ‘Boy, it would be interesting if we put the two of them together in a film.’ I thought maybe that could work. Maybe those brothers could become Arnold and Danny. And why not make them twins while we’re at it?“
The script developed into a comedy of separated twins who looked nothing alike. The team of writers included screenwriting stars William Davies (How to Train Your Dragon), William Osborne (Kindergarten Cop), Timothy Harris (Trading Places), Hershel Weingrod (Space Jam), and William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
With the script and acting talent ready, Reitman, DeVito & Schwarzenegger met at a restaurant and signed the deal… on a napkin! But despite the potential, no studio was ready to undertake the risky experiment. So DeVito and Reitman went the smart way.
In Godfather style, they made the studios an offer they couldn’t refuse. The agreement was that they would take no salary in return for owning a sizeable chunk of the movie’s returns. Reitman, DeVito & Schwarzenegger collectively owned 40% of the movie.
“The situation was such that Ivan Reitman, Danny DeVito, and myself wanted to make a little movie, little meaning a small budget film. Only $15 million and not one dollar above that.” Schwarzenegger said in an interview with Larry King.
When Universal Pictures finally agreed to make the movie, the 40% ownership, no-salary deal kept the budget under $20 million. With the project green-lit, Arnold Schwarzenegger was on his way to making his first comedy with a major studio & a top director.
Filming began in 1987. Schwarzenegger played the physically perfect, naive twin while DeVito played the short, cynical, street-smart twin. Despite the obvious differences in their characters and their real-life careers, they clicked.
In an article, Schwarzenegger reminisced on his behind-the-scenes experiences.
“When we did Twins, we recognised when we did the first few scenes how much fun we were together and how Danny plays off me and I play off Danny. It’s just a match made in heaven, really.”
Principal photography for the film lasted 3 months. It was filmed in Los Angeles, California & desert locations in New Mexico (used for depicting the fictional genetics research institute). The film was released a year later, on December 9, 1988.
The pairing was funny, the script hilarious & the talent top-notch. There was only one question pending.
Would the audience enjoy it?
The release was strategically timed for the holiday season, when people would turn to warmer, more light-hearted content in keeping with the Christmas spirit. Family movies were expected to perform well during this time. The theory was that it would help the film attract audiences outside of Schwarzenegger’s usual fan base.
While marketing the film, the studio also heavily leaned into the visual contrast between Schwarzenegger & DeVito. One tall, muscular hunk, and the other, a short, bald & humorous one. The poster even had a sarcastic tagline: Only their mother can tell them apart.
The strategy paid off. Audiences absolutely loved the film. The critics, though, had mixed reactions. Robert Ebert, a film critic from the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it 3 out of 4 stars in his review.
“Twins is not a great comedy – it’s not up there with Reitman’s Ghostbusters and DeVito is not as funny as he was in Ruthless People and Wise Guys– but it is an engaging entertainment with some big laughs and a sort of warm goofiness.”
The film opened #1 at the US box office, earning $11.7 million during its opening weekend. It remained the top-grossing film for 3 consecutive weekends after. And this was despite heavy competition from ‘Rain Man’ and ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’. During its theatrical run, the movie played in 1,659 theatres.
Even when The Twins was released in the United Kingdom in March 1989, it topped the national box office during its opening weekend. As per a report, the film made $111.9 million domestically and $104.6 million internationally, earning a total of $216 million worldwide – 15 times its budget.
Schwarzenegger’s Cut
The Twins added $40 million to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pockets. In an article, the actor explained, “This was the biggest payday because we owned a percentage of everything – of TV rights, of cable rights, of merchandising, everything. Whatever it was, we owned that money. So we made a fortune.”
Despite the studio’s concerns, the film did exceptionally well. Later, some executives felt they could have kept more money for themselves with a typical deal. In an interview with Graham Bensinger, Schwarzenegger recalled the studio’s reaction.
“Whoever the studio executive was then, after the movie came out, and after we made all of the money, he says, ‘You know what you guys did to me?’ He turned around, and he pulled out his pockets, and he says, ‘You robbed me blind and you f****d me!'”
In a time when Schwarzenegger earned around $30 million per film, his cut of The Twins surpassed that of his biggest films. The film led to more collaborations with Reitman and DeVito, namely Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Junior (1994). Both were decent comedies, earning 100-200 million dollars worldwide.
There was even talk of doing a sequel to The Twins. DeVito, Reitman & Schwarzenegger were all on board. Reportedly, the film would be titled Triplets, with Eddie Murphy playing a third sibling of African-American origin, but the project was shelved after Reitman’s death in 2022.
Nevertheless, The Twins was one decision that changed the course of Schwarzenegger’s career. Instead of being typecast as an action hero, he got opportunities to experiment with humour. Comedy also became a staple in his later films, such as True Lies (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), and more.
A single leap of faith allowed Schwarzenegger to break out of the mould and pursue a genre he loved, making the jump one of Hollywood’s most profitable gambles ever.
