Arnie and John McTiernan ALMOST made Sgt Rock

[Kevin Roegele]

It's true. back in 1986, Steven de Souza's script for Sgt. Rock was so very nearly made into a movie, starring Arnie and directed by John (Die Hard) McTiernan. Arnie did costume tests and promotional buttons of Arnie as Rock were given out at conventions. In the movie Predator, Sgt Rock comics were kept on set for McTiernan and Arnie to read - and even find their way into the film.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Oh poo.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

So what kept it from getting made?

 

[ToddIsDead]

So what kept it from getting made?

Apparrently God saw this in the making and put a stop to this travesty.

 

[Lando81]

Amen to that.

 

[Ben Breeck]

Well, an American commando in WWII with a German langoage accent would definitely be a tough sell...

 

[Lando81]

Oh yeah.

 

[dnno1]

Apparrently God saw this in the making and put a stop to this travesty.

It is apparently obvious that you were too young to know how popular an action star, Arnold was in the 1980's. After making his breakthrough as an action hero in the films "Conan the Barbarian" and "Conan the Destroyer" he had a run of commercially successful films: "Commando" (1985), "Raw Deal" (1986), "The Running Man" (1987), "Red Heat" (1988), "Predator" (1987), and "Total Recall" (1990). I think that after doing "Predator" there were talks of Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis being involved with a "Seargent Rock" film, but the project never came to fruition according to a Gavin Ford piece in the "Star Gazette". I think this was about the time that the WB was working on a project called "Batman", and I have a feeling that they wanted to establish that franchise first before taking on one with a so called non flagship character like Sgt. Rock. The project did resurface again in 2002 after an observed resurgence of war films (post 9/11), but I am sure it died this time because of the different opitions that Arnold had at the time (he wound up doing "Collateral Damage" and "Terminator 3") and the fact that he eventually ran for Governor of "Culifornia".

 

[ToddIsDead]

It is apparently obvious that you were too young to know how popular an action star, Arnold was in the 1980's. After making his breakthrough as an action hero in the films "Conan the Barbarian" and "Conan the Destroyer" he had a run of commercially successful films: "Commando" (1985), "Raw Deal" (1986), "The Running Man" (1987), "Red Heat" (1988), "Predator" (1987), and "Total Recall" (1990). I think that after doing "Predator" there were talks of Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis being involved with a "Seargent Rock" film, but the project never came to fruition according to a Gavin Ford piece in the "Star Gazette". I think this was about the time that the WB was working on a project called "Batman", and I have a feeling that they wanted to establish that franchise first before taking on one with a so called non flagship character like Sgt. Rock. The project did resurface again in 2002 after an observed resurgence of war films (post 9/11), but I am sure it died this time because of the different opitions that Arnold had at the time (he wound up doing "Collateral Damage" and "Terminator 3") and the fact that he eventually ran for Governor of "Culifornia".

Please, don't try to explain it to me. I've watched nearly every film on Arnold's filmography. I'm one of his biggest fans. What I said was a joke, fueled by the fact that having an all-American WWII commando played by a heavy-accented Austrian man would be incredibly rediculous, not to mention slightly disrespectful to Joe Kubert's character. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to see a character who is supposed to be one of the greatest American WWII GIs appear as basically a huge german body-builder. I'm not really sure what you were trying to point out with your post, but I don't think you really understood what I meant. I just don't think that it would be right to cast Arnold as SGT. Rock.

 

[dnno1]

Please, don't try to explain it to me. I've watched nearly every film on Arnold's filmography. I'm one of his biggest fans. What I said was a joke, fueled by the fact that having an all-American WWII commando played by a heavy-accented Austrian man would be incredibly rediculous, not to mention slightly disrespectful to Joe Kubert's character. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to see a character who is supposed to be one of the greatest American WWII GIs appear as basically a huge german body-builder. I'm not really sure what you were trying to point out with your post, but I don't think you really understood what I meant. I just don't think that it would be right to cast Arnold as SGT. Rock.

It shure didn't seem to me that you were joking in that statement and from this post it really seems like you meant it. My point here is that Arnold was considered a hot comodity some 15-20 years ago as an action film star and he played in roles as an American military war hero ("Commando", "Predator"). I could understand why the studios considered him for the role (on two different occasions) in spite of his Austrian upbringing (both he and Willis were draws at the Box Office). To show that they were serious about the project, some reports say that they went as far as passing out buttons of Arnold as Sgt. Rock at comicbook conventions at the time (which are now collectors items). Maybe an actor with a Germanic accent might sound inappropriate to you but that is a relative concept. To the studios (at that time) obviously felt that casting him was a low risk solution to the high risk investment of making such a film.

 

[Dr. Fate]

Perhaps some film adaptations are just not meant to be.