How the film "Twins" was filmed (11 photos)

A few stills from the filming and interesting facts about the cult comedy film "Twins" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.





1. Although the film “Twins” was not the first comedy in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career, it was the film that revealed “Iron” Arnie as a comedic actor. In order to get Schwarzenegger in his film, director and producer Ivan Reitman, who was already known for the film “Ghostbusters,” brought Robin Williams into negotiations with the actor.



2. Initially, the film was supposed to be called "Experiment", but later it was decided to call the film "Twins". Moreover, Ivan Reitman decided that Schwarzenegger’s twin should be radically different from Schwarzenegger himself. That is why they took the short, plump and balding Danny DeVito for this role, who simply played his role perfectly.

It was quite cute and funny when director Ivan Reitman met with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in a cafe to discuss the film, because to seal their deal, they simply signed on napkins.



Danny DeVito, Ivan Reitman and Arnold Schwarzenegger

By the way, later Ivan Reitman will make another comedy film with Schwarzenegger and DeVito in the lead roles. Yes, yes, we are talking about the same movie “Junior” with a pregnant Arnold.

3. In order to play Julius in the movie "Twins", Arnold Schwarzenegger had to make a "sacrifice", namely, to lighten his hair.

4. In the second half of the film, Julius threatens the doctor that if he lied to him, he will come back. To be more precise, he says the phrase "I'll be back", which is a reference to the film "Terminator" (1984).

5. In the end credits you can see gratitude to Sylvester Stallone, who did not take part in the filming of this film. Apparently, we are talking about the Rambo poster that Julius saw on the street when he came to look for his brother.



6. The main characters got their names not by chance. Arnold Schwarzenegger played a character named Julius, which is a reference to Julius Caesar, while Danny DeVito played a character named Vincent, which is a reference to the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh.

7. When Julius arrives at the prison to bail out his brother, whom he has never met, he immediately notices a muscular man with about the same physique as his. Therefore, the first thing he thinks is that this man is his brother.



In fact, the role of the muscleman in prison was played by Schwarzenegger’s permanent stunt double and friend, Peter Kent, who replaced him in stunt scenes in such popular films as “Terminator 1 and 2,” “Commando,” “Total Recall,” “Predator,” etc.







8. During breaks between filming, Danny DeVito constantly treated members of the film crew to coffee, and sometimes even sambuca.

9. Ivan Reitman's children appeared in one of the scenes. Specifically, they played one role between them, namely the granddaughter of one of the twins’ fathers.

10. With a budget of $15 million, Gemini earned a whopping $216.6 million. Moreover, Schwarzenegger was offered to take not a fixed fee, but a percentage of the profits from film distribution. In the end, Schwarzenegger agreed, and he was right, because thanks to the success of the film, he earned $35 million, which was more than all the fees for his previous films combined. Danny DeVito and Ivan Reitman also received a percentage of the profits, making them huge winners as well.



Later, Arnold repeatedly stated that agreeing to star in the film “Twins” was the best decision of his life. And it's not just about the money, as he truly enjoyed the filming process and working with Ivan Reitman and Danny DeVito.

By the way, he would later star in two more films by Ivan Reitman - “Junior” and “Kindergarten Cop.”

11. In 2017This year it was announced that the film "Twins 2" would be made. According to the supposed plot, it should have turned out that in fact there were not two, but three twins. The third brother was to be played by Eddie Murphy, to which he immediately agreed. But a little later Eddie Murphy dropped out of the project.



The role of the third black brother was offered to actor Tracy Morgan, to which he agreed. In 2021, work began on the script and preparation for filming the film, which was already planned for 2022. Ivan Reitman really wanted to make a sequel, but unfortunately he was never able to do so, as he died in early 2022.

After his death, the rights to the film were transferred to his son Jason, who does not want to make a sequel, because he does not see the point in it and is simply not interested in it. At least this is how Arnold Schwarzenegger explained this situation.



12. By the way, do the names of the main characters Julius and Vincent remind you of anyone? Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta's characters in the movie Pulp Fiction were named Julls and Vincent. Moreover, Danny DeVito was the executive producer of this film. So much for the connection.