DirectorJohn McTiernanrecently revealed howArnold Schwarzenegger’sunproducedSgt. Rockmovie was crushed byJohn Cleese. According to author Nick de Semlyan’s new bookThe Last Action Heroes(viaJoBlo),Sgt. Rockwas being developed in 1988 and 1989 with theTerminator 2: Judgment Dayactor set to star in the film. However, attempting to cast Cleese in the movie ultimately ended up shutting down the entire project.
The fictional character Sgt. Rock was first created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. Sgt. Franklin John Rock made his debut in DC Comic’sOur Army at War#83 which came out in June of 1959. The character was a World War II American solider who served as an infantry officer and led the unit known as Easy Company. Unlike some other popular comic characters, Sgt. Rock did not possess any supernatural skills or abilities.
In Semlyan’s book,McTiernan, (known for directing popular action films likeDie Hard,Predator, andThe Hunt for Red October) revealed that theMonty Python and the Holy Grailstar was supposed to join the cast ofSgt. Rockfollowing the success of his 1988 comedyA Fish Called Wanda.
Sgt. Rockhad planned to adapt Danny Kaye’s 1958 comedyImitation General. If things had ended up working out for the project, Cleese would’ve played an English cook pretending to be a World War II general who ultimately gained the protection of Schwarzenegger’s Sgt. Rock. As for theConan the Barbarianstar, his character would’ve been recreated as a German escaping his homeland after his family was killed by Nazis.
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John McTiernan Said That John Cleese Saw Them as “Just a Couple Thug American Action-Movie Makers”
Still, despite having Schwarzenegger and McTiernan attached to the project, theLast Action Herodirector noted that when he met with theHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stoneactor, Cleese seemed “very polite, but as far as he was concerned, we were just a couple thug American action-movie makers.”
Though his filmDie Hardhadn’t been released when McTieran and Cleese met up,The 13th Warriordirector alleged that if the English actor had seen the action film things could have gone quite differently.
McTieran said, “If he’d seenDie Hard, I think he probably would have signed up. But he judged us on our reputation.”
The director went on to state that the idea of having Cleese co-star alongside Schwarzenegger had become so ingrained into the project that when theMonty Python’s Life of Brianstar declined to take part in the film, everything kind of fell apart.
The director admitted that he was disappointed that theShrek 2actor ultimately passed onSgt. Rocksaying, “It would have been delightful – John Cleese would have had so much fun making fun of Arnold and vice versa. That was the whole essence of the movie.”
Schwarzenegger later dropped out as a result of the stall in development and went on to star in 1990 sci-fi filmTotal Recall.
