Next Action Hero? Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks J.J. Watt could be movie star

Arnold Schwarzenegger turned bodybuilding fame and Mr. Olympia title into a career as one of the most famous movie action heroes ever. So when The Terminator says Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt could be an action hero in Hollywood … well, maybe?

We won’t speculate yet on Watt turning a movie-star career into being governor of California like Arnold did, but Schwarzenegger thinks Watt has a career on the big screen ahead of him if he wants it.

“He’s right now busy with his athletic career, but when he’s ready for that I’ll tell you, Hollywood is champing at the bit to get him into movies and to make him one of the next action heroes,” Schwarzenegger said on Saturday at Watt’s charity softball game. “He’s already an action hero on the field. It would be very easy for him to be an action hero in the movies.”

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Watt and Schwarzenegger apparently know each other fairly well, and Schwarzenegger was impressed with Watt’s charity work, including his softball game.

Watt jumping into the movies not entirely insane, only because others have gone from football to acting. Jim Brown retired from one of the greatest football careers ever to make movies. Alex Karras and Merlin Olsen went from being great defensive linemen to roles on television. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson played football at the University of Miami (Fla.) and after a WWE career he’s on our movie screens constantly. Carl Weathers was a linebacker for the Oakland Raiders before he was Apollo Creed. There are a ton of football players who have become actors. Yes, even O.J. Simpson.

Watt has had a couple small acting roles, including a funny, random role in “Bad Moms.” Maybe by the time the “Batman” series gets around to reviving Mr. Freeze, Watt can step into Schwarzenegger’s old role. Or Watt can be the lead in “Kindergarten Cop 2.”

“He has the right looks, he has the right body, he has the right personality, he’s very outgoing,” Schwarzenegger said about Watt having a future in acting.

Hopefully Watt is not close to finding a new career. Watt is returning from a back injury that wiped out almost all of his 2016 season.

All of the reports of Watt’s recovery have been positive. The three-time NFL defensive player of the year is swinging a bat well, and flipping it pretty good too.

For now we’ll take Watt getting back to entertaining us on the football field. Maybe Hollywood can have him after he’s done with that.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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