Since 1970, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had already made a name for himself in bodybuilding, began acting in films, as did many of his idols, such as Steve Reeves and Reg Park. He has to contend with difficulties: a difficult-to-pronounce last name, a foreign accent, and “excessively large” muscles.
The Beginning of a film career:
Schwarzenegger’s first film role was the image of Hercules in the film “Hercules in New York” (1970); in the credits, his last name is changed to the pseudonym Strong (“Strong”). All of Schwarzenegger’s lines in the film were dubbed by another actor due to the accent. “At first, it was difficult for me – agents and casting specialists said that my body was “too creepy”, I had a funny accent, and my name was too long. Everywhere they said that I had no chance”
One of Schwarzenegger’s first films, Stay Hungry, prompted the following review. He resembled a well-mannered giant, huge and awkward, who had to look around all the time so as not to accidentally step on someone. He had some funny lines that he said quite skillfully, and eventually you began to love him with a strange love, like a panther that never bit you.
After the next film, Scoundrel, there were reviews that “neither Schwarzenegger’s facial expression nor his game can be compared to the muzzle and behavior of his horse.”
Pumping Iron:
In 1977, the documentary “Pumping Iron” was released, promoting bodybuilding. Schwarzenegger played one of the main roles in it – a cold “reinforced concrete” character who refuses to go to his father’s funeral so as not to disrupt his training schedule (in total, Arnold called at least three different versions of the fact that he did not appear on this funeral: the need for training, at that time he himself was in the hospital with a broken leg, was not warned in time).
Conan:
In 1982, the film “Conan the Barbarian” was released, in 1984 the sequel “Conan the Destroyer” – a fantasy saga based on the works of R. E. Howard about Conan, a barbarian from Cimmeria, who lived several thousand years ago in the Hyborian era. The image of Conan from Cimmeria in the books of Howard and followers is a reinforced concrete warrior crushing the skulls of countless black magicians and seducing dozens of women; he changes many roles – a thief, a mercenary, a pirate, until he finally becomes the king of Aquilonia, the largest state of the civilized Hyborian world. At the same time, he himself was born on the battlefield, went through a harsh school of survival, and comes from a country that the Hyborians call barbaric. Filming was accompanied by a number of challenges for SchwarzeneggerRELATED:
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“”Sometimes I had to do something really creepy … In the first episode, four wolves were supposed to attack me, and real ones. The wolves were released from their cages too early. I ran back, fell off the cliff and cut my back. I was quickly dragged to a medical trailer, and the doctor put stitches on the wounds. The next day I had to fight twenty horses. The third horse fell on me with all its croup, and I fell! I managed to get up, but I had to drop the sword. You cannot imagine the joy of knowing that you have overcome fear. I don’t care if I get hurt or not. I am inspired by the fact that no trials scare me!””
Terminator:
However, the success of the film “Terminator” (1984) was even greater; although Arnold’s character only spoke five or six lines throughout the film, his portrayal of a relentless cyborg killer from the future captivated the audience. Despite low-budget financing ($6.5 million), the box office grossed over $38 million in the US and $78 million worldwide. The Terminator was followed by new successful films: Commando, Running Man, Predator, Red Heat. Thanks to The Running Man, Arnold Schwarzenegger is honored to leave his autograph on Hollywood Boulevard, numbered 1847.
Film career peak:
The role of Schwarzenegger is a lone hero. He played most of the roles in science fiction action films, although in several films Schwarzenegger also played comedic roles (for example: “Twins”, “Kindergarten Cop”, “Junior”, “True Lies”, “A Present for Christmas”). For the first of these films, Gemini, Arnold turned down a fee, seeing his first comedic role as a great opportunity to show that he could play more than just concrete killer robots. The film “The Last Action Hero” became Schwarzenegger’s parody of himself in action films. The most successful films in Schwarzenegger’s film career are the films “Terminator”, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, “True Lies”, “Total Recall”, “Running Man”. You can also note the films “Commando” and “Predator”. We can say that the heyday of Schwarzenegger’s film career fell approximately on the period 1985-1991. For 15 years from 1982 to 1997, the actor played only the main roles in films.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Filming required the former bodybuilder 6 months of training for three hours a day to get back in shape Schwarzenegger’s fee for this film set a record in the film industry: it amounted to $ 30 million. When asked by a journalist, “how do you intend to spend it,” the movie star replies, “This is not a question for me. I give all my money to my wife. Maria, what have we done with this money?”
There are also many moments in the film that parody the previous two films. Also, as in previous films, a naked T-850 walks into a bar, but it turns out to be a bachelorette party bar and the only one whose clothes the Terminator might need is a guest stripper. Just like in the second movie, the T-850 finds sunglasses in his pocket, but they turn out to be disco dancer glasses and the T-850 throws them away in disgust. Such self-parody gags are present in the film until the very end.
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End of film career:
Despite the promise to leave the film career after being elected Governor of California, Arnold appears in two cameos: “Treasures of the Amazon” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Sean William Scott (2003), “The Kid and Me” (2005) as himself. In “Treasures of the Amazon”, Schwarzenegger appears for 3 seconds, uttering a single phrase. The 2009 movie Terminator Salvation uses the digital image of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He makes a cameo appearance as a T-800 terminator at the age he was in the first Terminator. And in the film “Around the World in 80 Days” in 2004, he played the role of the Turkish prince Hapi. After 6 years, after a long break, Arnold returned to the screens again, in the film of his friend Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables, in a small cameo role.
Return:
The first film with the participation of Arnold after his return to the cinema was the action movie The Expendables 2. He will also voice the main character in the animated series “The Governor”. In 2013 (in Russia on February 21), the film “The Return of the Hero” was released, in which Arnold played the main role. In 2013, the film Escape Plan was released, in which, along with Schwarzenegger, another famous actor, Sylvester Stallone, played one of the main roles. In October 2012, Schwarzenegger began filming in the action movie Sabotage, where he plays a police officer, and he will again have to fight the drug mafia.
The film premiered in the USA on March 28, 2014, in Russia on April 17, 2014. In August 2013, Arnold took part in the filming of the action movie The Expendables 3, where many famous actors played, such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Dolph Lundgren and others. In September of the same year, Schwarzenegger starred in the film “Maggie”, in which he played the role of a farmer.
In April 2014, Iron Arnie began filming the science fiction action movie Terminator Genisys. Arnold again played the famous role of the T-800 Terminator. The film was directed by Alan Taylor. The film was released on July 2, 2015.
