Though he’s still linked to a new Terminator film, Arnold Schwarzenegger is now targeting child kidnap drama Cry Macho for his big screen return, THR reports.
The film has been a pet project for producer Al Ruddy (The Godfather, Million Dollar Baby) for a number of years, after N. Richard Nash wrote the screenplay in 2000 from his own 1975 novel. Ruddy has re-optioned the script several times, refusing to give it to a studio and preferring to seek more independent outlets.
The film will be financed by QED International, whose Bill Block and Paul Hanson will exec produce together.
Schwarzenegger follows actors such as Burt Lancaster, Pierce Brosnan and Clint Eastwood in being considered for the role as Mike, a has-been horse trainer and widower who is lured by $400,000 to kidnap his boss’s son from the boy’s mother and return him safely.
The actor’s deal, negotiated by his reps at CAA, calls for the former governor of California to receive $12.5 million as well as 25% of the first-dollar gross. Ruddy and Schwarzenegger will also co-own the negative.
Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) is set to direct. Filming could be begin as early as September.
