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Arnold Schwarzenegger & Gene Simmons Sad Rumor Leaks
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Commando” that was released in 1985 was a massive hit. It was from “Teen Wolf” screenwriters Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman, who had the plan to slot Arnold Schwarzenegger into the lead role. Even after the big success of James Cameron’s “The Terminator” a year earlier, Schwarzenegger saw “Commando” as a big deal. […]
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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Commando” that was released in 1985 was a massive hit. It was from “Teen Wolf” screenwriters Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman, who had the plan to slot Arnold Schwarzenegger into the lead role. Even after the big success of James Cameron’s “The Terminator” a year earlier, Schwarzenegger saw “Commando” as a big deal. He explained why in Empire’s oral history:
“‘Commando’ was a big step forward for me. I had only done ‘Conan’ and ‘Terminator,’ but now I got to play a gentle, loving father. He is also a fighting machine that will not stop until his objective is complete.”
Commando was supposed to have Kiss member
In the film, he plays John Matrix, a retired U.S. Army Colonel who must rescue his daughter (Alyssa Milano) after she’s kidnapped by a group of mercenaries. The film allowed Schwarzenegger to showcase his wits and humor and served as the model for his macho, quippy one-liner films that followed.
However, the original “Commando” script included a lot less carnage. Steven de Souza rewrote it to beef up Schwarzenegger’s larger-than-life persona and added a deadlier body count to one-up Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” much to the dissatisfaction of the original writers. “Our [initial] story was about an Israeli soldier who has turned his back on violence,” Loeb told Empire. “Not the movie they made!”
In fact, the original script wasn’t intended for Schwarzenegger at all. Instead, it was written for a friend of theirs — a guy who happens to be a member of the American rock band Kiss, Gene Simmons.
According to Esquire and Movieweb, Jeph Loeb III and Matthew Weisman originally wrote their “Commando” script about an Israeli soldier who rejects violence, and they wrote it specifically for Simmons. (Simmons is an Israeli-American.) Per Movieweb, the musician turned down the role, though it’s not clear why; he continued to take action movie roles during that time, including another villain role in 1987’s “Wanted: Dead or Alive.”
Source: alternativenation.net
