Before AI plagiarized content and gave you a script, James Cameron’s first $100 million movie, which was released in 1994, had already thought of the concept.

True Lies, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in leading roles, was the result of Cameron basing his screenplay on a 1991 French comedy film, La Totale!

Made with a budget of $115 million (via Box Office Mojo), the film features Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker, a U.S. government agent who struggles to balance his life as a spy with familial duties.

Although True Lies remains the only adaptation that James Cameron has ever done, it would be followed by a lawsuit citing plagiarism.

James Cameron “Technically” Did Not Plagiarize True Lies

While James Cameron adapted the storyline, the project was later entangled in a legal dispute. Cameron was sued in 2000 alongside Claude Zidi (the director of the original French film La Totale!) by French screenwriter Lucien Lambert.

Lambert alleged that Zidi had plagiarized from his unproduced 1981 screenplay, titled Émilie, when creating La Totale!

The dispute reached the Court of Appeal of Paris, which ruled in favor of Lambert in June 2004. As a result, Zidi was ordered to pay Lambert an undisclosed amount from the roughly $15 million Zidi had netted from the film’s success (via Variety). Cameron himself was cleared of liability, as the court determined the director of Titanic had purchased the film rights to La Totale! in good faith.

With talks of True Lies 2 being going on forever, there’s a very sad reason that the sequel was never made, and despite the ratings of the first movie, it might never be made.

Key Facts About:True LiesDirected By:James CameronCast:Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom ArnoldRelease Date:July 15, 1994IMDb Rating:7.3/10Rotten Tomatoes Score:72%Worldwide Box Office:$378 millionProduction House:Lightstorm EntertainmentWhere to Watch:YouTube TV

What Happened to True Lies 2?

A still from True Lies | Credits: Lightstorm Entertainment

True Lies took place before the attacks of 9/11. According to the cast, which was gearing up for True Lies 2, terrorism was something that couldn’t be taken as lightly as it was pre-9/11.

According to director James Cameron (via Jam! Showbiz), True Lies 2 was something he couldn’t bring himself to do “given the current world climate”. Even Jamie Lee Curtis revealed in a 2019 interview with the IBTimes that there will never be another True Lies post-9/11.

I don’t think we could ever do another ‘True Lies’ after 9/11. This was pre 9/11 so I wouldn’t want to say we could make fun of terrorism but we could make fun of terrorism because it was so outrageous and of course, we can’t ever make fun of them ever again.

Even Arnold Schwarzenegger mentioned in a 2003 interview with IGN that a script for True Lies 2 featured an airplane scene with a fight inside the plane while the plane is going down. Although the scene was great, Schwarzenegger confirmed that they were rewriting it as “These things take a long time.”

As the years went on, the updates about True Lies 2 started fading, until eventually the world realized that there would be no True Lies 2. The 1994 James Cameron remains a masterpiece, despite the years, and is a classic movie, for sure.

What do you think of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s True Lies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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