It's one of those projects that has floated around development limbo for years, but according to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the sequel to 1988 Ivan Reitman comedy Twins, known as Triplets, is currently sitting on the slush pile. And it's all thanks to Reitman's son, Jason.
As part of a sprawling career and life interview in The Hollywood Reporter, Schwarzenegger opens up about his disappointment with the movie, which would have reunited him with original co-star Danny DeVito and was to have also starred first Eddie Murphy then Tracy Morgan, with the elder Reitman back to direct. At least until his death, whereupon his filmmaker son decided not to move it forward.
"Jason Reitman fucked it up!" says Schwarzenegger. "Jason Reitman literally stopped the project when his father died. His father wanted to do it really badly. I wanted to do it really badly. Danny DeVito wanted to do it really badly. We had the financing. When his father passed away, Jason says, 'I never liked the idea' and put a hold on it. I’m developing another movie with Danny; he’s so much fun to work with and so talented."
Which makes it sound like it's not completely dead, but close to it for now.
Arnie was also candid about a potential path forward for him as Conan, though that is also held up by other people.
"It’s been pending for the last 10 years," he says. "[Fredrik] Malmberg owns the rights. He comes to me and says, 'Oh, I have a deal with Netflix,' and when we ask Netflix, they don’t know anything about it. It’s one of those crazy things. I hope he figures it out. I think you do it like Unforgiven, where you play the age. There’s a great script out there that John Milius wrote, and others have written one. The story is there. There are directors who want to do it. But he has the rights, and until he sells the rights for one or two movies, or for the franchise, there’s nothing you can do about it."
And finally, he was asked about his continued involvement in the Terminator franchise, which he sees continuing… but without him.
"The franchise is not done. I’m done. I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator," he offers. "Someone has to come up with a great idea. The Terminator was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly. The first three movies were great. Number four [Salvation] I was not in because I was governor. Then five [Genisys] and six [Dark Fate] didn’t close the deal as far as I’m concerned. We knew that ahead of time because they were just not well written."
For more from Schwarzenegger, head to THR's site.