Director Chuck Russell on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Eraser, Jim Carrey's The Mask, and More

Thirty years on, Eraser is one of those fantastic 1990s action thrillers that feels like it could only have been made in that period of time. During the heyday of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the film took the action icon and threw him into a world of corporate conspiracy, witness protection, alligators, parachutes, and sci-fi weapons that wouldn't look out of place in a video game like Halo. Yet it works because of how much the film commits to the bit. Eraser was helmed with precision by veteran director . I spoke with Russell to celebrate the film's 30th anniversary as part of our retrospective series Collider Rewind. Together, we took a stroll down memory lane as he discussed pushing the action as far as it could go, giving Schwarzenegger a more grounded performance and, interestingly, why those sci-fi railguns were more real than you'd have thought.

During our conversation, he also discussed working with Schwarzenegger at a fascinating point in his career, surrounding him with actors like James Caan, Vanessa Williams, and James Coburn, and finding the balance between spectacle and story before CGI took over. Across the conversation, Russell also looked back on his wider career, from betting on Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask to helping launch Dwayne Johnson as a leading man in The Scorpion King, and making horror audiences feel unsafe with The Blob and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. But when it comes to Eraser, one thing becomes very clear: Russell knew he was taking it to the limit.