Arnold Schwarzenegger has had quite a few stints across different genres. From playing a Cyborg in Terminator to portraying a Kindergarten teacher cum undercover cop in Kindergarten Cop, the actor has dabbled in all kinds of roles. But ask his fans to name what his best role is, they would usually answer with a role that never happened.
The actor was slated to portray Hagen in the movie Crusade, the supposed greatest movie ever to be made, a Kingdom of Heaven meets Gladiator meets Cannibal Holocaust. While fans continue to regret the movie’s fate, one horror legend regrets it along with them. Slated to star beside Schwarzenegger, Robert Englund is still hungover over the fact that he never got to act alongside the Austrian Oak.
Robert Englund Still Regrets The Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie That Never Got Made
Robert Englund‘s Freddy Krueger will forever remain iconic among fans of the horror genre. The horror legend has since starred in multiple acclaimed movies of the same genre, but his biggest regret is coming close to starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in a movie that never took off.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the height of his career when he was approached for what was supposed to be the greatest action-historical epic, the Crusade directed by Paul Verhoeven. However, the movie never took off due to financial and logistic challenges despite having a finished script and every actor-crew onboard.
While speaking to Dread Central (via Far Out Magazine), Englund revealed,
“I had worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the middle of the 70s. At the height of his stardom, he was supposed to do a movie called Crusade for Paul Verhoeven…Paul was also at the top of his game and it was perhaps going to be the biggest movie ever made.”
However, the movie never took off for the studies had qualms about spending $100 million on a movie that the director wasn’t sure would end up being a success (via EMPIRE).
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Greatest Crusade-Epic Was Shelved Due To Financing
A movie more brutal than the likes of The Passion of the Christ, with a Gladiator-like setting starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as his Conan the Barbarian character, this is how many would describe the movie after reading the script, that has somehow found its way online. While it is definitely brutal, the movie would have been the greatest historical epic about the theme.
However, as Schwarzenegger puts it, the movie was shelved due to its huge $100 million budget and the lack of guarantee by director Paul Verhoeven over its potential success (via EMPIRE). Even Englund remarked that despite the contract and shoot all set, getting the financing ended up being the nail in the coffin that made sure the movie never got made and now probably would never be made (via Far Out Magazine).
