Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, both stars of comedy films Twins and Junior, have reunited to present two categories at the 2024 Academy Awards.
The duo, who were also both villains in different films about the DC Comics character Batman, presented the visual effects gong to Godzilla Minus One and the film editing prize to Oppenheimer at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Receiving a standing ovation from the audience when they arrived, DeVito said: “Arnold and I are presenting together for a very obvious reason…”
“We both tried to kill Batman,” Schwarzenegger added.
The Austrian actor and politician also said that in Batman & Robin, his character Mr Freeze was defeated by Batman as he used his “one weakness, love” – in reference to the supervillain losing his wife at the outset of the film and getting his powers when he cryogenically freezes her.
They also poked fun at Michael Keaton, who was in the audience and starred as the Caped Crusader in 1992’s Batman Returns opposite DeVito as the evil top hat-wearing The Penguin.
DeVito said The Penguin died when he was “thrown out of a window” by Batman.
As the camera turned to Keaton, who was also in the 1980 superhero movie Batman, he added: “Where is he, that son of a bitch? He’s here, he’s right here, there he is… you (Michael) are a real beak breaker. I’m going to see you after the Governors Ball.. pal.”
Schwarzenegger also said: “You better believe it.”
The Governors Ball Music Festival takes place in June at Flushing Meadows in New York City and is also the name of an Oscars after party.
In the 1988 film Twins, Schwarzenegger and Devito play brothers that are the result of the same pregnancy when a woman is inseminated by different fathers in an experiment – who find each other as adults and are not identical.
Their 1994 movie, Junior, also references a pregnancy as Schwarzenegger plays an expectant father and Devito takes the role of the doctor looking after him while he deals with having a child.