This July 30 arnold schwarzenegger turned 75 and continues to show that it is still an undisputed icon of action movies. The Austrian-born actor gained worldwide fame by starring in acclaimed films such as Conan the barbarian (1982), terminator (1984), Commando (1985), Predator (1987) to name a few.
To continue celebrating the former Mister Universe’s birthday in a big way, we tell you five facts that you may not have known about his career in Hollywood.
I want to be the hero!
when in the 80s james cameron began work to bring the Terminator to life, the director had many actors totally different from Arnold in mind to bring the T-800 to life. Always with the thought that they should look like ordinary people so that no one suspects that they are cyborgs covered in organic tissue.
Names like Lance Henriksen (yes, Bishop from Aliens), the athlete and actor OJ Simpson, Sylvester Stallone and even Mel Gibson sounded on the casting lists. The truth is that in addition to those names, the studios wanted Cameron to add Schwarzenegger, but not as the cyborg, but as the human hero.
By this time Arnold had captured the attention of the public and the studios with his role as Conan the Cimmerian. Cameron didn’t like the idea of the Austrian being the hero at all, even he didn’t even want him for the role of the T-800.
Accepting the constant requests of the production, James met with Arnold and what he thought would be a “thanks, but I don’t want you in my cast“, was a “I need it urgently”. schwarzenegger He pitched many ideas for the Terminator to Cameron, from his movements to his expressions, all because the actor had seen 1973’s Westworld with Yul Brynner.
Cameron paid attention to every detail and asked Arnold to join the cast, but as the T-800 and not Kyle Reese. The Austrian did not want the role of the villain, since his career was growing and he feared that he would be encapsulated in those types of roles. The director convinced him and even promised him that if there was a sequel, he would be the hero.
I will be back!
Terminator one in addition to boosting the race of schwarzenegger gave him one of his header phrasesone that would come to repeat far beyond the cyborg movies.
After Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) are taken into police custody, the exterminator decides to go on a reconnaissance tour. When he asks about his objective, the officer who attends to him tells him that the woman cannot receive visitors, to which T-800 responds, “I’ll be back!” (I will be back). That moment marked both Arnold and the film, but it could have been totally different.
During filming, arnold He expressed to James that he felt uncomfortable about the line, the grammatical contraction that the “I will” suffered bothered him. He went so far as to suggest that it was better to say the full sentence, without a contraction, “I will be back!” It is said that Cameron looked at him with a smile and replied bluntly: “I don’t tell you how to act, you don’t tell me how to write!”. Arnold obeyed the director’s orders and at the time of shooting he launched the phrase. So if it hadn’t been for James, that moment wouldn’t have been as big as it is today.
Come on Bennett, Let’s party!
Commando (1985) in addition to being full of action scenes and phrases to remember, also marked Arnold and is literal. The actor suffered a few accidents during production and one of them came from a sharp knife.
When filming began on the Mark L. Lester film, Arnold asked the knife expert jack crain, a survival knife. For those who don’t know, Crain became known for being the creator of the tactical and survival knife that he uses. Sylvester Stallone in First Blood (Rambo) from 1982.
Arnold also wanted his knife and in order not to end up with one similar to his friend’s and let’s say “rival” in action movies, he ordered a special blade from Crain. The work of this expert was unique, the knife Arnold wields in Commando stands out in every shot.
The striking fact is that in the famous gear up scene, when John Matrix loads weapon after weapon, we can see how he keeps the knife in the sheath. The problem is that the blade was so sharp that it not only went through the scabbard, but also gave Arnold a deep cut on one of his hands. Nothing a couple of stitches won’t fix.
Dead or Alive, You’re Coming With Me!
After the success of Terminator, robot stories gained momentum in the cinema. Orion Pictures wanted their own movie with the same theme, so they acquired the rights to the screenplay written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner, titled Robocop.
The film that recently celebrated 35 years, became not only a great exponent of action cinema, but also of the cyberpunk genre. But before Paul Verhoeven had the great Peter Weller as Alex Murphy / Robocop, the studio considered several candidates, including arnold schwarzenegger.
Rob Botin, the expert in makeup and special effects, was in charge of creating Robocop. It is said that Bottin had a meeting with Arnold, but when he had him face to face he knew that the character was going to be exaggeratedly big. This completely ruled out Arnold’s involvement in the film.
The former Mr. Olympia was disappointed and much more when he was able to see Robocop, he was completely fascinated. This motivated him to contact Paul Verhoeven so that in the future they could work together. Years later both would have their opportunity with the acclaimed Totall Recall of 1990.
Stop, or my friend will do tricks!
Although everyone saw Arnold and Stallone as rivals, they were always great colleagues and friends. In the 90s, both actors, in addition to having more action movies to their credit, added different roles, such as comedy.
In the 1990s Arnold received a script titled Stop! Or My Mom Will Shootwhich tells the funny story of how a rude police officer has to deal with a visit from his tender mother while trying to stop an arms trafficking case.
Arnold did not like the script at all, but decided to play a trick on Sylvester Stallone. The Predator actor spread rumors that he had a keen interest in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot and that at a certain point, he would ask for an incredible sum of money to make the role vacant. That was how the rumors reached sly.
Almost a week after all this, it was learned that Sylvester had closed the contract to shoot the movie. The Rambo star hated the film, but he did it anyway.
The film was not a success, with luck it managed to meet its budget, but in any case it is a nice memory in Sly’s career and even more so knowing that this was the work and thanks to Arnold.
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Five facts you probably didn’t know about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career