Available on myCANAL, this action feature film with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead was such a failure that it bankrupted its producer!
While he was becoming a huge star after Conan the Barbarian and Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger was forced to make a poorly received action film! Rated 2.0 out of 5 on Allociné with more than 1000 votes, John Irvin’s Contract is one of the bodybuilder actor’s worst films, but why was he forced to do it?
At the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger was under contract with Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. The latter gave him a chance by giving him the role of Conan the Barbarian in the eponymous film and its sequel, Conan the Destroyer, but their collaboration ended badly.
Studiocanal
The financier forced the actor to shoot four weeks (instead of one) on the film Kalidor, the Legend of the Talisman, in which he was to play only a short cameo, transforming the film – titled “Red Sonja” into VO – in a film with Schwarzenegger in the lead.
Kalidor is part of our selection of the worst films of the 80s!
After this trickery, Schwarzenegger understands that he must break away from the producer to pursue his career as he sees fit. He therefore agrees to shoot the film The Contract on the condition of being released from his relationship with De Laurentiis. The French title is a good mnemonic to remember this anecdote!
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The Contract tells how Mark Kaminsky, a former FBI agent fired for his brutality, is contacted by his former boss to infiltrate a mafia gang led by a certain Patrovina, and eliminate its members one by one. Kaminsky accepts, hoping that this mission will allow him to return to the Bureau.
Dino De Laurentiis hopes that the success of The Contract will allow him to earn enough money to finance Total Recall, which he plans to adapt for the big screen with Patrick Swayze, to the detriment of Schwarzy, who would love to play the role of Doug Quaid.
Studiocanal
Ultimately, The Contract was a critical and public failure, precipitating the producer’s bankruptcy and putting an end to his dreams of adapting Philip K. Dick’s short story.
A project not lost on everyone, since the rights to the SF book will be sold to the company Carolco Pictures, which will adapt it in 1990 with a certain… Arnold Schwarzenegger! A great revenge for the actor!