The Predator director reveals REAL REASON Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down Dutch return

Back in 1987, in his action heyday, Arnie took on the Predator.

And with the latest film in the franchise released this week, it turns out he turned down a cameo.

Now The Predator director Black has revealed it wouldn’t have been a substantial enough role for the star.

Speaking with Digital Spy, the filmmaker said: “The studio wanted a fresher movie that featured an evolving cast.”

Black continued: “They didn’t want to hinge the movie on the re-emergence of Schwarzenegger.

“It would probably be more of a matter of his showing up briefly and just participating at the very end, at the climax of the movie.

“Understandably – and believe me, I completely get it – he said, ‘Look, that’s kind of a small part, and I don’t really think I want to do that.

“‘I’m off to do Terminator with Jim Cameron, basically. Or for Jim Cameron’”.

He added: “So I totally got it, you know? If I was Schwarzenegger, I’d want to be one of the stars of a film, or nothing.”

Nevertheless Arnie’s Dutch could return in a bigger role if he makes a sequel to his Predator movie.

Black said: “I even said to him, ‘If you’re in this one, we would open it up for the sequel, because now you’re back in the franchise’.

“So you know, if there’s another movie, there’s no reason why he couldn’t be either in it, or the star of it, or whatever someone decides at a future date.”

Arnie’s original Predator was followed three years later by a sequel starring Danny Glover.

The franchise then had something of a hiatus until 2004’s Alien v Predator and its sequel.

Then in 2010 Robert Rodriguez made Predators, before Black’s 2018 film.

The Predator is released in UK cinemas on September 13.