Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the cast of 'Viy 2'.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

The 'Terminator' actor will star alongside Jason Flemyng and Jackie Chan in the Russian and Chinese co-production, a sequel to Russia's highest-grossing local film of 2014 'Viy'.

Producer Gleb Fetisov announced the news earlier this week and confirmed Flemyng will be playing the lead although he is yet to reveal what roles Chan and Schwarzenegger will take on.

'Viy 2' - also known as 'Journey to China: The Iron Mask Mystery' - is set in the 18th century and focuses on English adventurer Jonathan Green, played by Flemyng, who is assigned to draw a map of Russia's Far East.

However, his travels eventually bring him to China.

'Viy 2' will be directed by Oleg Stepchenko, who helmed the first film, and is tentatively scheduled to be released in 2017.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger recently revealed how was told he couldn't be a leading man in movies because of his Austrian accent.

The 69-year-old actor was presented with the Adweek 2016 Brand Visionary Award last month and on accepting the honour he spoke of his aspirations as young man to become a Hollywood star.

He recalled how he was told he'd never make it in Tinseltown because he looked like a "monster" due to the incredible physique he attained for his competitive bodybuilding career, and his strong accent was also identified as a stumbling block on the road he wanted to follow.

During his acceptance speech, Schwarzenegger - who was born in Thal, Styria - said: "I had this vision of becoming a leading man like Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson or Warren Beatty and I wanted to get into movies. So I started looking for agents and producers an studio executives and they all laughed at me. They said, Are you crazy? This is the 70s, Dustin Hoffman is the star, Al Pacino is the star, Woody Allen. They are the sex symbols of the 70s. Look at you, you have a 250 pound body, you look like a monster compared to those guys. Plus your accent."

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