The Story Behind Last Action Hero (1993)

June 18th, 1993 saw the release of Last Action Hero. It was expected to be the biggest summer blockbuster of 1993. But a week before the movie's release, something happened. Jurassic Park hit theaters, took the summer blockbuster crown of 1993, and became a huge critical and commercial success, grossing over $1 billion worldwide. Last Action Hero on the other hand was panned by critics and flopped at the American box office, grossing over $50 million domestically. But after the film's release, it later gathered a cult following thanks to the home video market. It's been said that the history behind a movie is better than the movie itself, and that's the case with Last Action Hero. Let's take a look with what went wrong.

  Origins

The idea for Last Action Hero was conceived in 1991 by college graduates Zak Penn and Adam Leff.  Being fans of action movies from the 80's, they wrote a screenplay called "Extremely Violent", which is meant to be a darker, much violent parody of the genre. The screenplay is about a boy named Danny who gets transported into the world of an action movie and uses all his knowledge of action movie cliches to save the day. An up-and-coming Hollywood agent named Chris Moore read the script and began to shop it to various studios, which led to a bidding war. The war was won by Sony Pictures and was paid with $350,000. Everything was a dream come true for Penn and Leff until Arnold Schwarzenegger read the script.

Fresh off the success from Terminator 2, he wanted to make family friendly films that would appeal to a wider audience. After he read "Extremely Violent", he requested that the violence should be toned down to make it more kid-friendly. Lethal Weapon creator Shane Black and his partner David Arnott were hired to rewrite the script. Things came to a screeching halt when Die Hard director John McTiernan, who worked with Schwarzenegger on Predator, was hired to direct the film.

Considering that his previous credits were Predator, Die Hard, and The Hunt for Red October, McTiernan seems like an odd choice to direct an action parody, as someone like Robert Zemeckis or John Landis could have taken the job because both directors were known for picking apart genres. After McTernan was hired, writers and script doctors William Goldman, Carrie Fisher (yes, THAT Carrie Fisher), and Larry Ferguson were hired for uncredited rewrites. As a result, the violence was toned down, the teenage boy was aged down to a pre-teen, and the title was changed to "Last Action Hero." Shane Black and Davie Arnott were let go from the project. After many mishaps and constant rewrites, the film began production in August 1992, with a planned June 1993 release date. That's when things are starting to get worse.

The Nightmarish Shoot

Filming began in August 1992, with an estimated budget of $60 million. The process was rushed to meet it's June 1993 release date and plans were already announced for the film's marketing campaign, more on that in the next segment. The short time frame angered McTiernan. He called his experience the worst time he ever had in the movie business. He also claimed that Shane Black and David Arnott were conspiring against him when they were really giving Schwarzenegger a friendly visit in his trailer. So McTiernan called Zak Penn to make a cameo for the movie, purposely blocking him from the shot, making the cameo unnoticeable.

On top of all that, nobody can decide whether Last Action Hero was an action movie or a kids movie. On the last few weeks of shooting, McTiernan and his crew were forced to work 18 hours per day. Austin O'Brein, a child actor who co-starred in the film, realized the filming was rushed when a safety harness was suffocating him when filming a scene when he was holding on to a gargoyle. McTiernan came up to him and said "we couldn't afford to stop shooting." Shane Black and David Arnott were re-hired for a few last minute tweaks in the last month of the shoot.

Post Production, Marketing, and Release

After filming had been completed in April 1993, it's time to edit the film. McTiernan didn't bother to edit that much until Black saw a rough cut of the film. He found the movie to be a mess, with scenes that go nowhere, questionable casting decisions, and one of the dialogue he wrote. By this point, the film is no longer the movie that Zak Penn and Adam Leff set out to make. 

Things go from bad to worse when Sony began to overhype the project as 1993's biggest summer blockbuster. After a disastrous Los Angeles test screening in May 1993, Sony forced McTernan to reshoot the ending and 10 minutes of footage was cut. During filming and post production, Sony spent millions of dollars in marketing the film with video games, toys, a Burger King tie-in, and a heavy metal soundtrack to promote the film. They were also coming up with some ridiculous marketing strategies, such as contacting NASA to put the movie's logo in one of their space shuttles, or letting a giant balloon of Arnold Schwarzenegger head towards New York City. The balloon had to be deflated because the original design has Arnold carrying dynamite and was replaced with Arnold carrying a badge. The balloon and the space shuttle were delayed. To make matters worse, Sony refused to change it's release date, as another summer blockbuster was released a week before Last Action Hero.

On June 11, 1993, Jurassic Park hit the big screen and many people flocked to see the film, particularly for it's revolutionary special effects. Last Action Hero was released a week later. It bombed domestically. Critical reaction wasn't so kind either. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the movie "a two-hour Saturday Night Live sketch" and "something of a mess", and Roger Ebert gave the movie 2 and a half stars, believing that "it doesn't evoke the mystery of the barrier of the audience and the screen" and complained that "a lot of the time it simply seems to be commentating itself. Ebert and his TV partner Gene Siskel gave the film two marginal thumbs down.

 

Aftermath and Cult Following

Shortly after it's theatrical release, the movie will soon get a cult following, starting off with it's initial January 1994 video release. The movie now has it's fans for being an enjoyable parody of 80's and 90's action movies. At the same time, it still has it's critics for being misguided. It currently holds a 36% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus stating that "Last Action Hero has most of the right ingredients for a big-budget action spoof, but its scattershot tone and uneven structure only add up to a confused, chaotic mess."

My Opinion and Conclusion

I remember enjoying the movie the earlier times I saw it. But as I was getting older and began reading about the film's troubled history, I began to feel that the movie is a misguided mess. It tries to be a fantasy, a family film, a satire on action films, and a summer blockbuster and it adds up being confused. The story and tone are all over the place, the action scenes were decent but nothing special, and the comedy misses more than it hits. The movie has so many ideas and they barley paid off. If you're a fan of the movie, that's fine. I'm not trying to change your mind. In conclusion, Last Action Hero is not my cup of tea.