Schwarzenegger Gets ‘Macho’ Payday: $12.5M for Breeder Role

Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't starred in a movie in years, but he's still got it — and "it" is a giant payday: $12.5 million plus 25 percent of the first-dollar gross of his newest film, TheWrap has confirmed.

QED will sell the movie at Cannes.

The former governor, who left office this year, has signed on to "Cry Macho," playing a former horse breeder who's won the Kentucky Derby, but whose life has fallen apart. He ends up getting fired by his boss, a hedge fund manager who gives him one last chance to make money: Kidnap the boss's son from Mexico, where the boy lives with the man's ex-wife.

It turns, of course, into a road story, a father-and-son tale with Schwarzenegger turning into the father figure.

Expect an unknown to get the role of the 11-year-old.

Don't mock Schwarzenegger's acting chops. His comic timing is impeccable — remember "Kindergarten Cop"? And audiences love him. He's also set to star in Justin Lin's "Terminator 5."

Brad Furman ("The Lincoln Lawyer") is directing and the legendary Al Ruddy ("The Godfather," "Million Dollar Baby") is producing.

QED is financing the movie, which will shoot this year.

Deadline first reported the news.

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