Buried in a very strange New York Times interview, Tom Arnold dropped this little tidbit about a future project of his: “All I know is Jim Cameron’s making it and Arnold and I are going to be in it, and it starts shooting in 14 months, the day after Arnold stops being governor of California.” Is it a sequel to True Lies? Tom says, “It’s not going to be called ‘True Lies II,’ but it might as well be. I can live with that.”
That’s not exactly an answer Tom. Maybe they’ll call it True Lies: The Return or something. I can’t imagine any other reason for a re-teaming of James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tom Arnold. Still, since the news comes from Tom Arnold, I’ll believe it when I see it.
At the rate the rumor mill has been booking unconfirmed projects for him, Schwarzenegger will release ten movies six months after he leaves politics. The guy’s not exactly getting any younger. Pulling off a big-budget action movie like another True Lies film might be a stretch.
Not that another True Lies, or even another random action pic paring Schwarzenegger and Arnold would unwelcome. The original 1994 movie paired them up as secret agents living double lives. In one life Schwarzenegger is a boring, suburban husband but while his wife’s not looking he’s living the life of a super spy with the help of Tom Arnold. The film was without a doubt Tom Arnold’s finest moment. But that was fifteen years ago now. It seems far too late to revisit it. Besides, even if Tom Arnold hasn’t, James Cameron seems to have moved on.
UPDATE: Harry Knowles and his ever-reliable connections have gone straight to Jim Cameron and sorted this out:
I think Tom was joking. There are no plans for a True Lies 2. I don't know about the creative direction thing... I'm always down for a good action/comedy ( actually we always classified the film as a "domestic epic"). But since September 11, I've never felt comfortable generating laughs with nuke-toting Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. True Lies, even though it has a cautionary thread underneath the pratfalls, is in a strange way a product of a more innocent time.But if we ever do another True Lies, I wouldn't dream of doing it without Tom. He's a good friend and a very funny guy.
There you have it! Tom Arnold is dreaming, or hoping, or some combination of the two, and this is not happening by most estimates. But it's been fun to think about on a slow news day, right?
