To get to that, we must get to the film itself. McTiernan was re-teaming with his PREDATOR star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, it's safe to say, at the time was the biggest action star in the world. And McTiernan himself was no slouch in the action department - in addition to PREDATOR, he had directed the first DIE HARD, which was a box office smash and received some pretty good reviews as well. But LAST ACTION HERO is a mess - albeit a sometimes entertaining one.
The story, which took four writers to sort out (Adam Leff and Zak Penn were credited with the story, David Arnott and Shane Black with the screenplay; William Goldman also reportedly did some uncredited writing) involves Danny (Austin O'Brien), a 12 year old boy who lives alone with his mom (Mercedes Ruehl), a waitress, in a cramped apartment in New York City. Not having a lot of friends, his one escape is the movies. Specifically, action movies featuring the character Jack Slater (Schwarzenegger). Then he catches a lucky break, or so he thinks; Nick (Robert Prosky), the projectionist, who's taken a fatherly interest in Danny, tells him that he'll give an exclusive screening for Danny of JACK SLATER IV, and gives him a magic ticket. Excited, Danny sneaks out to the theater (the showing, naturally, is at midnight), and eagerly watches the movie. Except that early on, a stick of dynamite flies from the screen into the theater, and blows Danny into the movie.
