It comes as a surprise when people are told that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most profitable movie was not Terminator or any other action movie, but a comedy he starred in the ‘80s with Danny DeVito. In this 1988 blockbuster, the unlikely duo played twin brothers. Schwarzenegger, who had already established himself as a huge action star by the mid ‘80s, never expected that his big payday would come from his whim of trying his hand at acting. 

And he attributes the success of the movie, which was also his first $100 million hit, to Danny DeVito’s contrasting persona.

During a 2019 conversation with GQ, Arnold Schwarzenegger talked about a lot of his films, right from Terminator to True Lies. One of the films that he talked about was the iconic 1988 hit comedy Twins, which also starred Danny DeVito in the lead. He credits DeVito’s contrasting personality in the interview as the vehicle that made Twins a box-office success.

“I came up with the idea to have Danny DeVito play not only someone that behaves opposite of me, but also looks totally the opposite,” Schwarzenegger said.

“I thought that was very, very funny,” he added.

He further said in the GQ interview that he particularly found the poster of the movie funny, which depicted DeVito leaning on him, and on the side it read “Only their mother can tell them apart.” And he was right; it was actually funny and impressed the audience enough to praise his first attempt at comedy, and him his first movie that made $100 million domestically.

Twins was actually Schwarzenegger’s way to launch himself into comedy, as no other producer was ready to take that risk with him, casting him in any role other than an action hero. So he went to his friend Ivan Reitman with the request to direct him in a comedy movie. Reitman came up with five scripts, one of which was Twins, but at the time it was called The Experiment. But he then changed it to Twins and decided to take DeVito opposite him, and the rest is history.   

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Notably, the movie was a big gamble for the star, as he not only took a chance with his reputation as an action star but also made a big financial gamble.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, on several different occasions, has acknowledged how big a risk the movie Twin was for him financially. He said that Hollywood was not ready to take the risk on him in a comedy role. So, the star, who last month celebrated his 79th birthday, took a drastic step and took no salary for the movie. However, he did have another arrangement in place. On the back end, he took a small ownership of the film instead of a salary.

The result? He made over $40 million dollars from the film. However, the monetary benefit was of little concern to him. All he wanted was to cross over on the side of comedy, and he did that fabulously, winning over critics and the audience alike. Plus, he got to do another comedy, Kindergarten Cop two years later. It is just wonderful to see that after all these years he still holds his co-star Danny DeVito in high regard, and credits him with the success of the movie.

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Have you seen Twins? What are your thoughts on the 1988 classic? Do let us know.