McTiernan Rejects Schwarzenegger For “Red Squad”

I have beaten Night Rider on this one.  It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from John McTiernan and the last that we did hear wasn’t good, with rumors of movie cancellations and home foreclosure.

But thing are looking up and it looks like John McTiernan’s comeback is stronger than hoped, with not one but two pictures (and three screenplays) in the pipeline!  The first is “Warbirds” and will begin shooting this Autumn, potentially starring John Travolta.  Here’s a reminder on the synopsis of that courtesy of the McTiernan Newspage:

The director isn’t giving up hope of gettingg back behind the camera some day, and has been working for several months now on a script called Warbirds, inspired from the adventure films of George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting). A very dear project for McTiernan, it tells the tale of a group of aerial firefighters who also lead a secret life during the winter. For the past few years, McTiernan had to give up on six different projects, as he was unable to get completion bonds from insurance companies.

Secondly and maybe more interestingly, word now comes that shooting of Red Squad has been delayed until January.  And that John McTiernan turned down the studio’s requests to have Arnold Schwarzenegger star in the movie.  McTiernan says “They are trying to put in Arnold Schwarzenegger, and it’s a bad idea. I have to convince them not to.”  So what’s up there?  I don’t think there’s any bad blood or anything like that, just that McTiernan seems to be a highly selective artist — like the best usually are.

Finanically  McTiernan also seems to be coming out head above water.  He’s not commanding as much per screenplay as he used to, but he’s he is currently commanding $1 million per sale, which isn’t too bad.

Source: [THR]