NEW YORK -- Arnold Schwarzenegger is in serious talks to revive the epic action film "Crusade" with producer-financier Arnon Milchan.
If a deal can be struck, Milchan likely would make the film under his overall arrangement at Fox.
It's unclear who Schwarzenegger and Milchan would choose to direct, though Paul Verhoeven is interested, five years after he nearly directed Schwarzenegger when the film was to be financed by Carolco.
If those talks work out, Schwarzenegger would have a second major project in his campaign to reclaim his position as the world's top action star.
The "Crusade" talks closely follow last month's resurrection of "Terminator 3," a film that was just acquired by Fox with Schwarzenegger reprising his role as the cyborg and James Cameron writing, possibly directing, and producing with his Lightstorm partner Rae Sanchini.
Schwarzenegger made his return to the action arena with the Peter Hyams-directed "End of Days," a Beacon Communications production for Universal.
Long considered one of the best unproduced scripts of recent years, the Walon Green-penned "Crusade" has a fascinating history that ended up with Schwarzenegger himself owning the project.
Schwarzenegger long has been expected to play the hero, Hagen, a reluctant warrior who begins the film as a prisoner set to die. He's freed when he burns the image of the cross into his back during a visit by the pope, and he's drafted to recapture Jerusalem. The 11th century drama has shades of both "Conan the Barbarian" and "Braveheart."
The film was weeks from starting production in the early summer of 1994 when it was set up at Carolco Pictures. Sets were being built in locations such as Spain and Morocco when Carolco topper Mario Kassar pulled the plug on the film, whose budget was passing $120 million.
Kassar's company was clearly hitting the skids then, and in perhaps the worst swap since island residents sold Manhattan for $24 in beads, Kassar shelved "Crusade" and rolled the dice on "Cutthroat Island," which went down as one of the costliest flops in film history.
Since Schwarzenegger had a pay-or-play deal, Kassar and the actor came to a compromise: Schwarzenegger forgave the payday, but he walked away from the wreckage with the "Crusade" script under his massive arm.
Schwarzenegger almost regained momentum with the film later in 1994 as Columbia held talks to partner with Universal on the pricey actioner. The crusade faltered, but if the Milchan deal can be completed, Schwarzenegger finally might realize his dream to see "Crusade" mounted as an event pic.
His camp could not be reached for comment.
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