Tracy Morgan joins Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in the long-awaited Twins 2. Schwarzenegger the action star proved he could be funny too when he teamed with DeVito as his unlikely sibling in the 1988 comedy Twins.
With Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman at the helm, the original Twins went on to be a smash hit with $216 million at the box office. And Schwarzenegger liked playing comedy so much that he went on to appear in a few more funny movies, including Kindergarten Cop and Junior, the latter of which re-teamed him with DeVito. The possibility of Schwarzenegger and DeVito getting back together for a Twins sequel was also discussed over the years, but nothing really newsy happened on that front until 2017 when it was revealed that a follow-up was in the works, with Eddie Murphy tapped to play the long-lost triplet sibling of the original twins. Further updates were sparse however, and by late 2019 all DeVito would say was that he was still waiting on a satisfactory Twins 2 script.
The script DeVito was waiting for must have finally been delivered as Deadline reports Triplets is indeed moving forward. Murphy unfortunately has dropped out of the project, but 30 Rock and SNL star Morgan has stepped in to play the other brother of DeVito and Schwarzenegger. Director Reitman gave a brief synopsis of the movie’s story:
“Secretly, there was a third baby born, a Black baby, who hasn’t been in touch with his siblings. They don’t know each other and very early in the movie they meet and it’s how they achieve a bond together after all these years. It’s really a film about family and, no matter how different we all are, we have to learn to get along. These guys have great chemistry together, and you can see that in the reel, and how much energy they bring out in each other.”
Triplets will begin filming in early 2022 in Boston. According to Reitman, the need to get the film into production quickly was behind Murphy having to drop out, allowing Morgan to step in. As Reitman explained, “I’d been good friends with Tracy Morgan for a long time and always thought he was one of the funniest men in the world. I thought he would make a terrific triplet, and we rewrote the whole script for him.” Reitman also revealed that a sizzle reel of the movie’s three stars is being sent out as the project looks for a studio. Reitman of course was a major comedy director in the 1980s with films like Twins, Ghostbusters and Stripes on his resume. He hasn’t actually directed a movie since 2014’s Draft Day though, but said he decided to get back behind the camera after some urging by Schwarzenegger.
Obviously it’s been a long time since the original Twins rode the chemistry of its odd couple leads to box office gold. But ‘80s and ‘90s comedy nostalgia is of course hot right now thanks to long-delayed sequels like Coming 2 America, Bill & Ted Face the Music, the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop 4 and others. It remains to be seen if the addition of Morgan to the Twins mix will make for a satisfying follow-up, but there’s no doubt Morgan is a huge comedy talent who brings explosive hilarity to almost everything he does, so there's reason to be optimistic that he'll blend well with Schwarzenegger and DeVito. Twins 2 does not yet have a release date.
Source: Deadline