'Kung Fury' First Look Introduces President Arnold Schwarzenegger
In case you forgot, there's a feature-length Kung Fury movie coming our way, inspired by the popular short movie of the same name. And if that wasn't weird enough for you, just remember that Arnold Schwarzenegger is appearing in the movie. And if you need even more incentive, try this on for size: he's playing the President of the United States. Schwarzenegger posted a Kung Fury first look on social media today, showing him kicking-back as the commander-in-chief.
I met David more than 4 years ago, when he showed me his short "Kung Fury" & I laughed my ass off & told him if he ever made it a feature, I was in. Now we are having a great time together shooting the feature. His vision & persistence inspires me. I hope it inspires all of you. pic.twitter.com/RfjyC3ml9r
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) September 13, 2019
It's a strange world we live in. When Kung Fury first dropped online and went viral, I'm positive there was never a point where people thought: "One day, someone will turn that into a feature film that stars both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Fassbender." But that is indeed what's happening, and if you needed a reminder, look no further than the post above, in which Schwarzenegger is seen with director and original Kung Fury star David Sandberg (not to be confused with the David Sandberg who directed Shazam!). "We are having a great time together shooting the feature," Arnold writes. "His vision & persistence inspires me. I hope it inspires all of you."
Sandberg has been trying to turn Kung Fury into a feature since at least 2015, working with Seth Graham-Smith and David Katzenberg. Back then, Sandberg told EW:
"Well, we've been developing with them for about a year a feature script, and we have a first draft. It needs some fine-tuning obviously, but I feel it's a very good collaboration. When we met them the first time, we didn't know what to expect. Their office was plastered with Back to the Future posters, and all this stuff that was just awesome. We started throwing ideas around, and it felt really good from the get-go. We've been developing this simultaneously as I've been finishing up the short. So now I'm excited to see where this is gonna take us."
As for what we can expect from the feature version of Kung Fury, Sandberg said the film is "going to be a clean slate. Very different, but it's the same universe." In other words, it's not just going to be an expanded version of the short movie. This entire project is wild, and I'm curious to see how it all turns out. And while Arnold Schwarzenegger was a pretty lousy politician in real life, I'm positive he'd make a better president than the one we have right now.