Schwarzenegger Filming in Budapest
zita kisgergely
Arnie is back in Budapest. The star has been snapped all over town commuting on his favoured fat-tire ebike during downtime while filming a new action thriller.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Photo via Wikipedia.
Schwarzenegger is no stranger to Budapest and has visited Hungary many, many times. We personally came face-to-face with him and his well-documented cigar-smoking ways on Váci utca way back in 1987. As far as filming goes, the star was here in 1988 filming portions of the film Red Heat (where Budapest stood in for Moscow) and 2018 when Terminator 6: Dark Fate shot partly in Hungary at Origo Studios, Komárom and Budapest Airport.
From online reports, it seems his latest film The Kellys (which began production in May) centres on character Jack Kelly. He’s a New York City cop whose wife is kidnapped and held hostage by terrorists inside an armoury building. Kelly needs to save her, but first he must join forces with the people he fears most: his own family. Judging by the logline, it seems this feature will be firmly planted in the action-comedy genre.
Written by Tze Chun and Brad Peyton (who is also directing) for Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video, The Kellys is the actor’s–and former California governor’s–first action film in seven years. Reports from Deadline confirm his co-star is Liam Hemsworth, who Schwarzenegger worked with on The Expendables 2 (2012). Hemsworth was last seen in Netflix’s The Witcher and romantic comedy Lonely Planet (2024).
Liam Hemsworth. Photo via Imdb.
Who else the film will co-star remains a mystery. Some reports suggest it will be Geena Davis, star of many film classics like Thelma and Louise (1991) and A League of Their Own (1992), who we can’t wait to see back on the big screen. The last time she played in an action film was The Long Kiss Goodnight in 1996. But other unconfirmed reports have suggested that Sharon Stone might be co-starring in the feature, another legendary actress known for films such as Basic Instinct (1992) and Casino (1995). Stone also, incidentally, starred with Schwarzenegger in the 1990 film Total Recall. Our hot take: why hasn’t anyone put both of these screen icons in a film together yet? But, we digress.
Geena Davis. Photo via Wikipedia.
While details of the filming locations of The Kellys are still scant, what is sure is that the M2 metro line in Budapest was completely closed recently in June to be used as a set. Reports suggest that the Budapest Transport Authority (BKV) probably did well out of the deal as it received not only an (unconfirmed) sum in return for the shooting but was also reimbursed for all costs incurred during the closure.
Hungary has become a major go-to filming location in Europe–number two in Europe, in fact, after London. This is thanks to a generous tax rebate, cost-effectiveness, world-class studio space as well as experienced and highly-skilled crew. Budapest regularly stands in for a range of global locations from Paris and Berlin to London and beyond.
No confirmation as yet but the film is most probably slated for release in 2027.
Sources & further information
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