Arnold Schwarzenegger surprised Andy Cohen during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live by revealing that 1988’s Twins was the most financially rewarding film of his career. While The Terminator franchise may have dominated the box office, Twins delivered a personal payday of over $40 million.
“Number one was Twins, because we didn’t take a salary — we took ownership with a piece of the back end,” Schwarzenegger explained of the deal to star alongside Danny DeVito in the Ivan Reitman-directed comedy. “It was fantastic. We went all the way to the bank with that.”
When asked if he earned more than $20 million from the success of Twins, Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed the amount was even higher. Pressed further on whether his payday exceeded $40 million, he responded: “It was more than that. It was more than any movie I ever made.”
Twins paired Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as unlikely fraternal twins in the 1988 comedy hit. At the time, Schwarzenegger was best known for his tough-guy roles in The Terminator, Predator, and Conan the Barbarian—making the jump to comedy a surprising move.
“Why would they cast me in a comedy?” Schwarzenegger recently recalled in a conversation with his son, Patrick, for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series. “They said, ‘Are you crazy? The more people this guy kills on-screen, the more money we make. Why would we change that?’ That was the dialogue—until Ivan Reitman and Danny DeVito came along.”
Facing resistance from studios, Schwarzenegger devised a bold plan: “If we don’t take any salaries, we can shoot the movie for $16.5 million. We worked out a deal where we got 40% of the backend of the movie. It happened to be the best deal we’ve ever made.”
Twins went on to gross $216 million worldwide at the box office and earned even more through home video sales. Despite the film’s massive success, Schwarzenegger and DeVito never made a sequel together. They had planned a follow-up titled Triplets, which would have included Eddie Murphy, but the project was delayed after director Ivan Reitman passed away before filming could begin.
You can watch Schwarzenegger’s full interview on Watch What Happens Live in the video below.
