Schwarzenegger Has A New Movie Where He's Protecting His Zombie Daughter During The Apocalypse And It Looks Intense As Hell
Slashfilm – There’s still a bit of gun-toting and ass-kicking, but by and large this looks like a much quieter, more introspective Arnie than we’re used to seeing. Maggie also seems to put a fresh spin on the zombie genre, spotlighting the personal drama of the situation rather than the gore and violence.
Maggie has been in development for a few years now, with the script by John Scott 3 originally making the Black List in 2011. The film was finally slated to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall. However, it got pulled at the last minute when Lionsgate swooped in to pick it up.
The studio insisted it wasn’t over concerns about quality. “Maggie has all the ingredients that spell commercial excitement, from a compelling script and an A-list superstar surrounded by a world-class cast,” they said in a statement.
Full disclosure: I greatly enjoy the zombie genre when done in interesting ways. Walking Dead is usually solid these days, World War Z was a meh attempt but I also really hate whenever zombies can run and shit because that makes no sense, and even a movie like Contracted where a chick catches a disease from a hookup and slowly turns into a zombie was kind of interesting. But none of those are combining the time-tested “Arnold Schwarzenegger needs to kill everyone” concept with zombies with a serious weighty family drama like this Maggie trailer seems to be putting across. I just love it so much. I missed Arnold movies with every fiber of my being when he was governing California so to have him back and trying to do some serious drama while also shooting dudes in the head to protect his zombie daughter? Probably going to miss out on his witty accented one liners like “Looks like that zombie was dead set on meeting us” but still a tremendous move all around. Proud of you, Hollywood. You fuck everything else up but you nailed this one.
Not sure I dig the rotting flesh look but now that she’s almost 19 I’m willing to give Abigail Breslin a cautious yes yes yes:
(Abigail Breslin photos by Shutterstock)