Think You Know Last Action Hero? Think Again
"Not To Be" - How A Messy Production & Studio Arrogance Doomed Last Action Hero
When it fully entered production in 1992, Last Action Hero was being plotted as Schwarzenegger's next big home run, but the script had more humble beginnings. As detailed in "The Life and Death of Last Action Hero" by Empire's Nick de Semlyen, what would eventually become Columbia's most expensive nineties picture was initially conceived as a small-scale genre parody by screenwriters Zak Penn and Adam Leff called "Extremely Violent". The duo were promptly booted off the project after it attracted Schwarzenegger's interest, with Lethal Weapon's Shane Black and screenwriting partner David Arnott overseeing heavy rewrites.
This was but the first of many adjustments made to the script over the course of its whizz-bang production, which eventually sucked in screenwriting talents such as William Goldman and Carrie Fisher. Director John McTiernan also implemented extensive revisions before shooting, which led to tensions spilling over on set, as well as a seeming lack of focus as to what Last Action Hero was actually trying to achieve. Matters were exacerbated by a rushed production schedule and a general awareness of the film's ballooning production costs. On top of this, McTiernan only had a few weeks to cut the film before its June premiere, by which point Jurassic Park had landed like a cataclysmic asteroid, dooming the movie's chances of success following a number of high-profile marketing gimmick misfires.
The end result of all this behind-the-scenes turmoil and the size of the production itself meant that Last Action Hero was probably never going to get a fair shake when it released in '93. The bigger the object, the louder the impact, and the presence of a peak-of-his-game Schwarzenegger, plus a studio willing to go toe-to-toe with Steven Spielberg despite warnings from both within and out, gave the impression - wrongful or not - of arrogance.
Sure enough, when Last Action Hero premiered a week after Jurassic Park, it was met with almost scathing derision from the Hollywood press. A consensus quickly developed, with critics labelling the film's sentimental yet comedic approach a jarring reflection of its discordant shoot, that McTiernan and Schwarzenegger hadn't been able to settle on a singular vision, and in doing so, had condemned the film to a bizarre and tonally incongruous middle. The post-mortem examination led to one enduring conclusion: Last Action Hero had tried to be two, totally opposing things - a fatal but obvious error the filmmakers and Columbia simply didn't recognise because they were blinded by Arnie hype, as well as the perils of a rushed production schedule.
This assessment isn't totally misleading, and has even been supported by those involved in the development of the film itself - McTiernan most notable of all. However, I do also think that it's somewhat limiting, because genre deconstruction and sincere, sentimental storytelling are not mutually exclusive - or at least, they shouldn't be. They can clash, certainly, but it seems wrong to condemn Last Action Hero for broaching multiple things at once, especially since it does so in a far more clever way than it was ever really given credit for. That might have been more difficult to see in '93, with its hubristic production and marketing campaign in mind, but in 2023, where we're now in the twilight of Arnie's career, the introspective brilliance of Last Action Hero should be more apparent.
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