Arnold Schwarzenegger's Most Profitable Movie Role Is Truly Surprising

When Arnold Schwarzenegger moved from his native Austria to the United States, it seemed as if absolutely nothing could stop him from becoming the polymath he ultimately would be. The man had a preternatural drive to succeed, and not just as a bodybuilder. Claiming the Mr. Olympia title seven times wasn't enough for Arnie, who had nothing short of world domination on his mind.

After he made his feature film debut in one of the worst-rated movies of all time back in 1970, Schwarzenegger slowly built up his acting career, spending most of the 1980s competing with Sylvester Stallone to become the biggest action star in the world. He did a damn fine job, too. "Conan the Barbarian," "The Terminator," "Commando," "Raw Deal," "Predator" — these were some of the best and most successful action movies of all time, becoming emblematic of the uber-macho '80s style and turning Schwarzenegger into the archetypal action hero.

Of course, that meant the Austrian actor struggled to do much else, despite his ambitions to break out of his action persona and pursue other genres. When you've got superstar dreams, becoming the biggest action star in the world simply isn't enough. Before he could embark on a political career and marry a Kennedy, however, Arnie wanted to prove he had the chops to front a successful comedy as part of his overall onslaught on American culture. But doing so proved extremely difficult. It was only thanks to a huge gamble that he finally managed to make his comedy debut, and it turns out that gamble netted the actor a huge paycheck. In fact, it led to the biggest paycheck Arnold ever received throughout his entire career.

In his "Actors on Actors" appearance alongside son and "The White Lotus" star Patrick Schwarzenegger, the Austrian Oak recalled how much trouble he had trying to break out of his action star persona in the late '80s. "Every time I said, or someone said to the studio executive, 'I would like to cast Schwarzenegger,' then they said, 'In a comedy? Are you crazy? Do you know how much money we make with him as an action star? The more people this guy kills on a screen, the more money we make. Why would we change that?'" But Arnold was rescued from perpetual action hero typecasting by "Stripes" and "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman, who evidently saw the comedic potential in Schwarzenegger.

Reitman wanted the actor for 1988's "Twins," his buddy comedy in which Schwarzenegger would play Julius, the fraternal twin of Vincent (Danny DeVito). The result of a genetic experiment, the pair are separated at birth before reconnecting as adults. By that time, however, their appearances aren't the only thing that separates them. Having grown up in a Los Angeles orphanage before escaping to make it on his own, Vincent becomes a street criminal, while Julius is raised by one of the scientists involved in the original experiment, growing into a strong, intelligent, but naive counterpart to his estranged brother. The film follows Julius as he travels to L.A. to reconnect with his mother and brother, with the mismatched pair getting into all sorts of hijinks.

As you might imagine, Universal was understandably hesitant to cast Arnie as Julius. So, in order to convince the studio that the actor could make the switch to comedy, Reitman, Schwarzenegger, and DeVito all agreed to forgo a salary in exchange for 40% of the film's backend profits. After "Twins" became a surprise box office smash, it turned out to be the best decision any of them ever made.

As Arnold Schwarzenegger recalled during his "Actors on Actors" appearance, it was his idea for him, his co-star, and director to take no salary on "Twins." After they agreed, the trio went to Universal with the proposition. As Arnie put it, "We all take the risk, and you have the larger ownership because you paid for it, you get 60%, we get 40%." That 40% turned out to be a lot of money. "Twins" made $216 million on a $15 million budget, which means it made its budget back 14 times over and made Ivan Reitman, Danny DeVito, Schwarzenegger, and Universal a lot of money. How much? Well, in Arnie's case, it remains his biggest payday yet, even after almost three decades.

In 2025, Schwarzenegger spoke to Andy Cohen during an appearance on "Watch What Happens Live" (via Variety), revealing that "Twins" was the most profitable film of his career — at least for him personally. The film netted the star upwards of $40 million thanks to the gamble he and his buddies took. "Number one was 'Twins' because we got no money for the salary but ownership with a piece of the back end," he said. "It was fantastic. We went all the way to the bank with that." Asked if he made more than $40 million, the actor replied, "It was more than that. It was more than any movie I ever made."

After that, Schwarzenegger re-teamed with Reitman for 1990's "Kindergarten Cop," another family classic that proved "Twins" wasn't a fluke. Ever since, Arnie has been able to take on pretty much any genre he likes, delivering yet more family-friendly fare with "Jingle All the Way," which became one of the best Christmas movies of all time. He'd also go on to become governor of California, of course, but by that time, nothing he did seemed all that surprising.