From Terminator to protective father

‘Maggie’ to be action-comedy; hero’s first foray into hardcore drama

NEW YORK: Action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals his dramatic, tender side and sheds a few tears as a farmer struggling to care for his dying daughter in Maggie, an unconventional zombie film. The drama that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday night spins a different take on the zombie genre, concentrating more on the father-daughter relationship than blood-soaked gore and cannibalism.

“This was a very unusual role for me, because as you know, I never normally do dramatic roles,” he said after the film’s premiere.

Known for his roles in action films and comedies, this would be the actor’s first foray into drama. When Schwarzenegger first read the script he claimed to have tears coming down is eyes as it was ‘so powerful, so well written’.

In the debut feature film by British director Henry Hobson, Schwarzenegger is Wade, a farmer in a small town hit by a global outbreak of a deadly disease that turns its victims into zombies and threatens to wipe out humanity.

When his daughter Maggie, played by 19-year-old actor Abigail Breslin, is infected, he insists on taking care of her at home.

As the disease progresses and infected victims develop a taste for human flesh, their loved ones are forced to put them into quarantine where they face certain death. “It is the most human character I have ever played and I think it is also the most human zombie movie that was ever done,” said Schwarzenegger. While he won’t be giving up action films, Schwarzenegger said he “will be looking for more dramatic roles like Maggie.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th,  2015.

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