Trivia for
Last Action Hero (1993)

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• Contains intentional continuity errors.
  
  
• Many of the "props" in the film are made by "Acme".
  
  
• The schoolteacher who praises Laurence Olivier's performance was played by Joan Plowright, who is Olivier's widow.
  
  

• In the video store there is a cardboard cutout for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). The actor shown instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger is Sylvester Stallone.
  
  
• The movie that's playing on the TV monitor in the video store is Thunderheart (1992).
  
  
• When Jack and Danny are in the video store we see the boxes for Die Hard (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), and Medicine Man (1992), which were all directed by John McTiernan.
  
  
• The words "A Franco Columbu film" appear on the screen at the beginning of Jack Slater IV. Columbu is a bodybuilder friend of star Arnold Schwarzenegger's, who has appeared in the following films with him: Pumping Iron (1977), Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Terminator (1984), The Running Man (1987) and Beretta's Island (1994).
  
  
• Actor Trademark: [Arnold Schwarzenegger] 'I'll be back.'
  
  
• Actor Trademark: [Arnold Schwarzenegger] 'Trust me.'
  
  
• Actor Trademark: [Arnold Schwarzenegger] 'Do it.'
  
  
• During the shooting of the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger gave an interview on the set to Dagmar Koller, a famous Austrian musical-star, for an Austrian television show. After the interview Schwarzenegger invited her to appear in the movie. She can be seen in the police headquarters as Danny talks to her.
  
  
• After Benedict murders the car mechanic and wants to confess, you can see someone in the background carrying a pair of recently stolen shoes.
  
  
• Danny tells Jack that this is Meredith/Whitney's first movie. Last Action Hero (1993) is also the first feature film of Bridgette Wilson, who plays Meredith/Whitney.
  
  
• All of John McTiernan's films can be seen in one row in the video store.
  
  
• The first movie made in SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound)
  
  
• Art Carney's final film appearance.
  
  
• Sir Ian McKellen plays Death, a character out of Ingmar Bergman's film Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957). In that film, Death was played by Swedish actor Bengt Ekerot.
  
  
• Sharon Stone makes a cameo appearance as Catherine Tramell, her character in Basic Instinct (1992). She can be seen leaving the police station.
  
  
• Steven Spielberg was offered the chance to direct this film, but he turned it down to go make Schindler's List (1993) instead.
  
  
• The cop that Danny points out to Jack as they enter the police station is the T-1000 character from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), played by Robert Patrick.
  
  
• Robert Zemeckis was in contention to direct at one point.
  
  
• Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid $15 million for his role.
  
  
• The role of Benedict was originally intended for William Atherton.
  
  
• The filming involved a 3:00 pm to 3:00 am, 7-day, shutdown of six-block Times Square area in New York City for the production. Originally, a giant 75-foot balloon of Arnold Schwarzenegger held three few sticks of dynamite in the balloon's hand but, following the then-recent 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Richard Brick, Commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting and Gary Martin, President of Production at Columbia Pictures agreed to change the prop to a badge.
  
  
• Benedict's pistol is a Dan Wesson .357 revolver. Most noted for its interchangeable barrels on the same frame, from 2 inches to a whopping 10 inches. Slater carries a Desert Eagle .44 Magnum automatic.
  
  
• In the video rental store and in the newspaper that is being read by Benedict, there is advertisement for Dracula (1992).
  
  
• The explosion of Jack Slater's ex-wife's house was used from The Last Boy Scout (1991), also written by Shane Black.
  
  
• Charles Dance has said in interviews that his part was written with Alan Rickman in mind and suspects Rickman passed on the project.
  
  
• Charles Dance replaced Timothy Dalton as Benedict.
  
  
• While Danny is in the movie, he says John Practice (F. Murray Abraham) killed Mozart, a reference to the movie Amadeus (1984), where Abraham played Antonio Salieri. Later in the film, when Slater and Danny's mom are talking, the Overture to The Marriage of Figaro can be heard, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
  
  
• When Danny is arguing with Jack over checking to see if Benedict is dead after the two play chicken, he makes a reference to a villain in Die Hard (1988) who comes back at the end of the movie after being presumed dead. Shortly after, you can hear a soundtrack excerpt from the theme to Die Hard in the background.
  
  
• Has the distinction of being the first film to be advertised in space. For $50,000, the film's title was graffitied onto the side of an unmanned NASA rocket which was launched into space by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  
  
• These are the following guns in the movie. Slater: Desert eagle 50. caliber Automatic Express; Benidict: Hammerli .357 revolver; Danny: Walther PP Vavoldi: Walther PPK inscripted; Criminals: MP5ks, M3A1 grease guns, and Tec 9 sub-machine guns; Slater/Hamlet:Switches from Mac10 to Mp5k Van: Minigun. Whitney: 38. snubnose(6 shots, not 5); Swat member: M4A1.
  
  
• Charles Dance said in interviews that, after being told that he had won a part turned down by Alan Rickman because of the salary, he wore a t-shirt on set which read; "I'm Cheaper Than Alan Rickman!".
  
  
• This movie, which contains several references to the film Amadeus (1984), features two actors who played the character of Antonio Salieri: F. Murray Abraham, who played the character in the award-winning Milos Forman motion picture; and Ian McKellen, who played the role on stage in the Peter Shaffer play.
  
  
• "Jack Slater" when trying to pose as Arnold Schwarzenegger in the "real world" keeps getting the name wrong, and calling himself "Arnold Braunschweigger." The first part of Arnold's real name, "Schwarz," means "black" in German, while the first part of his wrong name, "Braun," means "brown" in German.
  
  
• Producer Mark Canton optioned the script for $350,000.
  
  
• The AC/DC song "Big Gun" was specifically written for this movie after Arnold Schwarzenegger personally approached the group and asked them to write a song for it.
  
  
• Just after Frank's house explodes, the black cop says, "Two days to retirement" as a nod to Danny Glover's character in Lethal Weapon (1987). The music in the background at that point also sounds like the music from "Lethal Weapon", mainly because of the saxophone.
  
  

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