Schwarzenegger will be back… in his first Western

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s big screen return is back on, after the action movie legend and serial adulterer signed up to Western ‘The Last Stand’.

"It's a property which a zillion directors fell in love with: the good, the bad, the weird," an unnamed Lionsgate exec told Deadline Hollywood.

"It's an old-fashioned western specifically designed for a 63-year-old broken-down guy with a moral decision - whether Arnold decides to stand up for his town. We always needed an iconic figure for it."

Liam Neeson had originally been lined up for the role, which has a modest budget of just $30m, a far cry from Arnie’s big-budget action spectacles prior to his political career.

After revealing he had fathered a secret lovechild more than ten years ago with a member of his household staff, Schwarzenegger decided to put his acting career on hold in order to rescue his longstanding marriage to Maria Shriver. Ms Shriver filed for divorce this month, citing “irreconcilable differences”

He had previously been lined up to star in Cry Macho, a drama in which Arnie would star as “a down-on-his-luck horse trainer who is hired to kidnap a 9-year-old boy". Another project on hold is 'The Governator' an upcoming comic book and animated series.

The kids-centric series is to follow have the actor upon leaving political office before "Arnold decides to become a crime fighter and builds a secret high-tech crime-fighting center under his house in Brentwood.”

The only fighting Arnie can expect in the coming months will be in the divorce courts, but at least he’s managed to wrangle an acting job to help what is sure to be a substantial payout settlement for Ms Shriver.