When one conjures up an image of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a zombie film, your instant reaction would be to picture the Austrian Oak mowing down waves of the undead with his bare hands while making cheesy one-liners to the camera. For Maggie, though, the end result is anything but, with the former governor assuming the role of a small-town farmer named Wade, who will fight tooth and nail to ensure his daughter doesn’t succumb to the zombie infection.
With Henry Hobson behind the lens and Ender’s Game star Abigail Breslin playing the part of the estranged young girl, the film has already garnered positive buzz for its dedication to personal drama over the usual cacophony of action that goes hand in decaying hand with the post-apocalyptic zombie genre.
Taking place in a world long ravaged by a deadly virus, Maggie looks set to offer up a focused account of the end of the world, with Schwarzenegger’s father defying common logic to protect his child. It’s a plot that bears some semblance to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us and, to a lesser extent, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road; blue-sky thinking, sure, but if Hobson’s thriller-cum-drama delivers on its promising debut trailer, the zombie flick could prove to be one of the more surprising films of the year thus far.
Maggie is pegged to makes its theatrical debut on May 8. For now, you can check out the debut trailer above and let us know what you think of Schwarzenegger’s more refrained, heart-on-sleeve performance in the comments.
There’s a deadly zombie epidemic threatening humanity, but Wade (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a small-town farmer and family man, refuses to accept defeat even when his daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) becomes infected. As Maggie’s condition worsens and the authorities seek to eradicate those with the virus, Wade is pushed to the limits in an effort to protect her. Joely Richardson co-stars in this post-apocalyptic thriller.
