"I WANTED TO CAST ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AND HE AGREED, BUT THEN...", SHANKAR REVEALS

Director Shankar's sci-fi action thriller 2.0, starring Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, and Amy Jackson, in the lead roles, is gearing up for its theatrical release on November 29. Meanwhile, the press meet for the Hindi version of 2.0 happened recently in Mumbai.

Director Shankar and Akshay Kumar attended the press meet that was hosted by Karan Johar, who's releasing the film in Hindi, through Dharma Productions.
 

During the press meet, Shankar shared that the team had initially approached Hollywood superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Akshay's role. "It was a very important role in the movie and the theme is International. Cell phones are universal and hence I thought, bringing in an International star, would make the global audience connect much more to the film.

I wanted to cast Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role and I met him. We had talks and discussions and he agreed to be a part and had given his dates also. But then, things didn't fall into place as the Hollywood contract (callsheet) was different from what we use in Indian contract.

Due to the differences, we couldn't proceed with him. We then started to look out for Indian stars who are capable of pulling off that role. That was the time when Lyca Productions were in talks with Akshay Kumar for the Hindi remake of Kaththi.

My team suggested that Akshay could be the one for this role and I also felt that he would be suitable. I narrated the story to him (Akshay) and he liked it, and that is how we signed him.", said Shankar.