What the Hell Happened to Arnold Schwarzenegger?

[TMC]

http://lebeauleblog.com/2012/12/02/what-the-hell-happened-to-arnold-schwarzenegger/

Posted by lebeau

Arnold Schwarzenegger was an unlikely movie star. He struggled with
the English language and a thick Austrian accent. His physique made
him hard to cast in every-man roles. And yet, for a time, he was the
biggest star in Hollywood. Eventually, he parlayed his popularity as
a film star into a political career. However, when his political
career ended, Schwarzenegger’s Hollywood come-back was derailed by
personal scandal.

What the hell happened?

Schwarzenegger began body building at a young age. He move to the
United States as soon as possibly to compete on a global level. As I
don’t know anything at all about the sport of body building, I am
going to gloss right over this phase of Schwarzenegger’s career.

The important thing is that Schwarzenegger dominated the sport. And
that it brought him to the United States. But Schwarzenegger wasn’t
satisfied with being the most famous body builder of all times. He
wanted to conquer Hollywood as he had the world of body building.

Schwarzenegger’s first film role was in the low-budget fantasy film,
Hercules in New York. Schwarzenegger was credited as “Arnold Strong”
since his real name was thought to be too long for Americans to
remember. Schwarzenegger’s accent was so think that all of his
dialogue was dubbed over.

It was an inauspicious start. But it was a start.

Next, Schwarzenegger played a deaf-mute hitman in Robert Altman’s neo
noir film, The Long Goodbye. As a role that required him to be big
without requiring him to speak, it played to all of his strengths
while avoiding his obvious weaknesses.

In 1976, Schwarzenegger co-starred opposite Jeff Bridges and Sally
Field in the Bob Rafelson’s body building drama, Stay Hungry.

Schwarzenegger didn’t exactly have to stretch as an actor. He played
an Austrian body builder named Joe Santo who is training for the Mr.
Universe competition. Despite the fact that he was basically playing
himself, Schwarzenegger won a Golden Globe for “Best Acting Debut in a
Motion Picture”.

This is especially odd since Stay Hungry was technically
Schwarzenegger’s third film. But since his dialogue was dubbed over
in Hercules and he played a dead/mute in The Long Goodbye, Stay Hungry
was the first film in which Schwarzenegger’s voice could be heard.

In 1977, Schwarzenegger literally appeared as himself in the body
building documentary, Pumping Iron. The film focused a lot of its
attention on the rivalry between Schwarzenegger and future Incredible
Hulk, Lou Ferrigno.

The film cast Ferrigno as a scrappy underdog and Schwarzenegger as a
cocky villain. For his part, Schwarzenegger claims to have played up
his villain role. Specifically, he cites the story of refusing to
attend his father’s funeral as an example of a fabrication. Although
some claim that the story is actually true.

Regardless, Pumping Iron was a hit critically and commercially. And
although he wasn’t technically acting, the documentary helped raise
Schwarzenegger’s profile outside of body building.

Around the same time, Schwarzenegger and Ferrigno found themselves
competing again. This time, for the role of the Incredible Hulk on
the TV series of the same name. This time, Ferrigno came out on top
when Schwarzenegger was deemed too short for the role.

In 1979, Schwarzenegger starred opposite Anne Margret and Kirk Douglas
in the Western parody, The Villain.

The Villain is basically a live-action road runner cartoon with
Schwarzenegger’s Handsome Stranger in the good guy role and Kirk
Douglas playing Wile E. Coyote. As bad as that sounds, The Villain
actually manages to be worse than you would think.

That same year, he also had a cameo role in the Mad, Mad, Mad World-
esque comedy, Scavenger Hunt. How small was Schwarzenegger’s role?
Willie Aames got higher billing.

In 1980, Schwarzenegger starred opposite Loni Anderson in the TV
movie, The Jane Mansfield Story.

Anderson played the legendary sexbomb of the 1950′s and Schwarzenegger
played her body builder husband, Mickey Hargitay.

Schwarzenegger’s breakthrough film was John Milius’ 1982 fantasy film,
Conan the Barbarian.

Because of the physicality of the film, Milius cast athletes in many
of the key roles. After seeing a rough cut of Pumping Iron, Milius
decided that Schwarzenegger was perfect for the role of Conan.

Milius’ violent fantasy film polarized critics. Many expected a film
based on pulp novels and comic books to be more family friendly.
While some critics condemned the film for its violence, others praised
it for creating such a uniquely adult fantasy world.

Despite mixed reviews, Conan was a solid hit at the box office.
However, Schwarzenegger earned his first Razzie for his stiff
performance in the lead role.

In 1984, Schwarzenegger starred in the Conan sequel, Conan the
Destroyer. Producer Dino De Laurentiis thought the first film might
have been more successful if it had been rated PG instead of R. So he
had the violence toned down for the sequel.

The end result is an odd mixture. While less bloody than the original
film, I’m still not sure it’s appropriate for the intended audience.
The entire plot centers around Conan trying to protect Olivia d’Abo’s
virginity. With Wilt Chamberlin also in the cast, that seems like a
losing proposition.

Conan the Destroyer got mostly bad reviews. And in spite of the PG-
rating, it under-performed at the box office. While still a modest
success, it earned less than the original.

Schwarzenegger was supposed to make a third Conan film for De
Laurentiis. But by then, he had become a viable star without the
Conan franchise. Since he had fulfilled the terms of his contract,
Conan the Conqueror would never be filmed. Instead, the script was
repurposed as Kull the Conqueror.

In 1984, Schwarzenegger took a villain role that would change his
career. But at the time, he wasn’t all that excited about the movie.
He described The Terminator to a reporter on the set of Conan as “some
shit movie I’m doing.”

If Schwarzenegger was less than excited about making The Terminator,
director James Cameron was even less excited about casting him. The
studio wanted Schwarzenegger to play the heroic lead, Kyle Reese,
because they viewed Schwarzenegger as an up-and-coming star with over-
seas appeal. But Cameron was concerned that if he cast a body builder
for the hero, he would have to cast someone even bigger as the villain
to make him a threat.

Cameron agreed to meet with Schwarzenegger to satisfy the studio. But
he intended to start a fight with him and tell the studio it hadn’t
gone well. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised by Schwarzenegger who
kept talking about the villain role. Orion had wanted to cast OJ
Simpson as the Terminator. But Cameron didn’t think Simpson would be
believable as a killer. At least one jury agreed with him.

During their meeting, Cameron asked Schwarzenegger to stop talking.
He started doing sketches of Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. When
he returned to the studio, he agreed to cast Schwarzenegger as the
villain.

Expectations were low for The Terminator. The studio didn’t even want
to screen it for critics. The modest science fiction movie received
good reviews and was a solid hit at the box office. While it was very
profitable, it was not the runaway smash most people probably
imagine. It grossed less than $100 million. But still, far more than
anyone expected.

In 1985, Schwarzenegger starred opposite the future Mrs. Sylvester
Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, in Red Sonja.

Red Sonja was basically a Conan spin-off although Conan did not appear
in the film. Schwarzenegger played a different character who was
essentially a stand-in for Conan. He would later refer to Red Sonja
as the worst film of his career.

The movie got terrible reviews and flopped at the box office. Thus
ended the sword and sorcery stage of Schwarzenegger’s career. Well,
until he returns for another Conan movie anyway.

Later that year, Schwarzenegger starred in a movie that would set the
tone for his career. Commando was another relatively modest action
movie. But the over-the-top tone suited Schwarzenegger’s cartoonish
proportions.

Commando was originally written for KISS frontman, Gene Simmons. It
was later rewritten for Nick Nolte who also passed. Further rewrites
were done when Schwarzenegger signed on.

Reviews for Commando were mixed. But many critics appreciated that
the movie didn’t take itself seriously. Audiences agreed and made
Commando the 7th-highest-grossing film of 1985 worldwide.

A sequel was written, but when Schwarzenegger passed it was re-written
as a vehicle for Bruce Willis. That film was titled Die Hard.

In 1986, Schwarzenegger starred in Raw Deal.

Not a lot to say about Raw Deal. It was generally considered a step
backwards for Schwarzenegger after the surprise successes of
Terminator and Commando. Even so, it was compared favorably to
Sylvester Stallone’s high-profile flop, Cobra. And it fulfilled
Schwarzenegger’s contract to the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group so
he was no longer obligated to star in the third Conan film.

Other than that, Raw Deal was a bit of a speed bump.

In 1987, Schwarzenegger recovered from that speed bump with his
biggest hit to date, Predator.

Predator was originally written as a joke. After Rocky IV, people
around Hollywood joked there was no one left for Rocky to fight. They
joked that Stallone would have to fight an alien in Rocky V. As it
turns out, that probably would have been better than the real Rocky V.

Joel Silver, who had produced Commando, approached Schwarzenegger to
star. Schwarzenegger liked the idea, but requested that a team of
commandos be added to the script. What started out as Rocky vs. Alien
turned into a strange war movie, science fiction, horror hybrid.

The genius of Predator is that it looked like a regular Schwarzenegger
movie. The first 45 minutes or so plays like Commando. But
eventually, the alien shows up and the stakes are raised. This
allowed Schwarzenegger to top his previous films.

The initial reviews were largely negative. But action audiences
didn’t care. Predator was a hit worldwide.

Later that year, Schwarzenegger returned to science fiction with The
Running Man.

The Running Man was very loosely based on a book by Stephen King.
Hollywood adapted it into a rip-off of Rollerball. The highlight of
the film was Richard Dawson’s villainous take on a smarmy game show
host. It was a darkly comedic take on the Family Feud host’s own
public image. But the rest of the film was pretty uninspired.

The Running Man got mixed reviews. While it was profitable, it was
far from the hit that Predator was.

In 1988, Schwarzenegger starred opposite Jim Belushi in the Cold War
action-comedy, Red Heat. Red Heat serves as a humbling reminder that
even after The Terminator and Predator, Schwarzenegger was still at a
place in his career where he could be paired opposite Jim Belushi.

Red Heat was directed by Walter Hill who was basically cashing in on
the buddy cop formula he helped create in 48 Hours. The movie got
mixed reviews and did okay at the box office.

Later that year, Schwarzenegger starred opposite Danny DeVito in Ivan
Reitman’s high concept comedy, Twins.

The entire movie is based around the gag that Schwarzenegger and
DeVito look nothing alike. DeVito played a variation of his usual
screen personae and Schwarzenegger played his straight-man. The
pairing proved unbelievably successful. Twins was by far the biggest
movie of Schwarzenegger’s career to date. The $15 million-dollar
comedy grossed over $200-million dollars worldwide!

Reviews were largely negative, but that hardly mattered given the
film’s incredible box office success. That is why all these years
later, the sequel Triplets is being developed. If it comes to pass,
Eddie Murphy will be added to the mix. Which will probably prove to
be successful, but it still makes me sad for everyone involved.

In 1990, Schwarzenegger returned to his action and science fiction
roots with Total Recall opposite Sharon Stone.

Total Recall was originally developed by Schwarzenegger’s old boss
Dino De Laurentiis. De Laurentiis had stars like Richard Dreyfus and
later Patrick Swayze in mind. Eventually, David Cronenberg was
brought on board. He spent a year developing Total Recall for William
Hurt. But Cronenberg’s vision was too close to the Philip K. Dick
novel. The producers said they wanted “Raiders of the Lost Ark Goes
to Mars” instead. Which is a shame because I would have loved to have
seen the Cronenberg version.

When De Laurentiis’s adaptation of Dune flopped at the box office, he
lost interest in Total Recall. Schwarzenegger had tried to get the
film back on track, but De Laurentiis couldn’t be swayed. Eventually,
when the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group collapsed, Schwarzenegger
saw an opportunity and he took it. He convinced Carlco to buy the
rights from De Laurentiis.

After Twins, Schwarzenegger was a big enough star to call the shots.
Schwarzenegger’s first decision was a good one. He recruited Robocop
director, Paul Verhoeven. This would give the film it’s unique
satirical element that set it apart from typical sci-fi/action films.

While many considered the violence excessive, Total Recall received
mostly positive reviews. It also topped Twins at the box office.
Schwarzenegger was on a roll.

Later that year, Schwarzenegger reteamed with Ivan Reitman for another
high concept comedy, Kindergarten Cop.

Like Twins, the entire movie hinges on the audience’s desire to see
Schwarzenegger cast against type. Cop has Schwarzenegger playing
straight man to a classroom full of kids. Penelope Ann Miller co-
starred as a kindergarten teacher and Schwarzenegger’s love interest.

Kindergarten Cop got mixed reviews. But like Twins, it was a big hit
at the box office anyway.

In 1991, Schwarzenegger starred in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Cameron and Schwarzenegger had been trying for years to make a
Terminator sequel. But there were several obstacles including legal
entanglements. Once again, Schwarzenegger convinced Carlco to buy the
rights so that the project could move forward.

Looking back, we all know that T2 was a huge hit worldwide. But at
the time, it seemed like a gamble. The first Terminator film was
almost a decade old. And it wasn’t that big of a hit to begin with.
The budget for T2 had ballooned above $100 million dollars making it
the most expensive movie ever made at the time.

Obviously, the gamble paid off. Terminator 2 got mostly good reviews
and was a huge box office smash. Schwarzenegger was now the biggest
movie star on the planet.

Unfortunately, that meant there was nowhere for Schwarzenegger to go
but down. In 1993, he sought to satirize his movie star status with
the action/comedy, The Last Action Hero.

The Last Action Hero was an attempt by Schwarzenegger to reinvent his
image. He was trying to move away from the violent movies that made
him famous into more family-friendly territory. Unfortunately the
film, which reuinted Schwarzenegger with his Predator director, John
McTiernan, didn’t satisfy any of his fans.

Last Action Hero didn’t just flop. It was a public embarassment that
threatened to derail Schwarzenegger’s career. The reviews were bad.
Schwarzenegger was nominated for a Razzie for the first time since
Conan. And Sony declares a loss of $26 million dollars.

Fortunately, Schwarzenegger had an ace up his sleeve in the form of
James Cameron. He reteamed with his Terminator director for the
action/comedy True Lies.

Believe it or not, True Lies was actually a remake of a French farce
on marital issues. The Americanized version was a return to form for
Schwarzenegger. Despite some complaints of sexism and racism, True
Lies received mostly positive reviews. And while it didn’t match the
box office of T2, it was still a big hit at the box office.

Tom Arnold and Eliza Dushku are still trying to get a sequel made.

Later that year, Schwarzenegger reteamed with Danny Devito and their
Twins director Ivan Reitman for another high-concept comedy, Junior.
This time, the gag was that Schwarzenegger got pregnant.

Junior proved to be a mixed bag. Reviews were generally negative.
But critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel were high profile exceptions.
Schwarzenegger was actually nominated for a Golden Globe! But the
film bombed at the box office. Fortunately, it fared better overseas
where it managed to make a profit.

Schwarzenegger was developing a pattern. He released an action film
in the summer and a comedy for the holidays. In 1996, the action film
was Eraser.

Eraser couldn’t help but feel like a step backwards for
Schwarzenegger. Up until now, his action films usually featured
something that made them special. Frequently, he managed to up the
ante on his previous films. But, Eraser felt like a pretty standard
action film.

Reviews were negative. But audiences still loved Schwarzenegger in
action movies. While Eraser wasn’t as big of a hit as True Lies, it
was still a big hit at the box office.

Later that year, he starred opposite Sinbad in the Christmas comedy,
Jingle All the Way.

Jingle All the Way lacked the high concept of Schwarzenegger’s
previous comedies. As a result, it felt like a smaller film. Like a
film that would co-star Sinbad.

Not surprisingly, the reviews were bad. It actually performed pretty
well at the box office. Better than Junior, but not as well as Twins
or Kindergarten Cop.

Schwarzenegger’s career was cooling down. If he didn’t have a hit
soon, he was in danger of being put on ice. He had to tell his fans
to “chill out”. Now imagine all those puns delivered in a thick
Austrian accent and you have a rough idea of what it is like to sit
through 1997′s Batman and Robin.

Batman and Robin is largely remembered as the movie that killed the
lucrative Batman film franchise of the 90s. After the success of Joel
Schumacher’s Batman Forever, Warner Bros couldn’t wait to make a
sequel. They wanted it fast and their focus was on using it to sell
toys.

The end result was just a mess. It took all of the worst elements of
Batman Forever and blew them up to gigantic proportions. The film
opened at number one, but it quickly fell off in subsequent weeks. A
planned sequel was cancelled. Schwarzenegger’s career suffered and
Alicia Silverstone’s career was more or less killed.

Only George Clooney emerged unscathed.

Schwarzenegger was nominated for a well-deserved Razzie. How
chilling!

You could sense Schwarzenegger’s career losing momentum. He took some
time off before returning to the screen in the 1999 action thriller,
End of Days.

End of Days was an apocalyptic thriller directed by Peter Hyams and co-
starring Gabriel Byrne as the devil. The ingredients were there, but
they failed to come together. End of Days received negative reviews
and bombed in the US. It fared better overseas. But that was cold
comfort to the studio.

Man, once you start with the cold puns, it’s really hard to stop!

Schwarzenegger attempted to recover with a return to science fiction.
The genre had always been good to him. But the 2000 clone flick The
6th Day was another box office disappointment.

Schwarzenegger received not one but 3 Razzie nominations. Since he
played both the main character and a clone of the main character, he
was nominated for Worst Actor, Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Screen
Couple.

After End of Days and The 6th Day, Schwarzenegger vowed to stop making
movies with “Day” in the title.

Collateral Damage was originally schedule for release in October of
2001. But following the 9/11 attacks, it was delayed.

The plot included a scene in which a plane was hijacked. But that
scene was removed before the film was eventually released in 2002.
Post 9/11, audiences no longer had an appetite for the kind of action
films that made Schwarzenegger a star. Collateral Damage bombed with
critics and audiences.

By this point, there was only one way to save Schwarzenegger’s
flagging career. He needed the Terminator.

Unfortunately for Schwarzenegger, James Cameron wasn’t interested in
returning to the franchise. But he gave Schwarzenegger his blessing
to carry on without him. The result was the acceptable but pedestrian
Terminator 3.

T3 got mixed to positive reviews. It did well enough at the box
office. But it felt like one final cash grab. It didn’t exactly end
the franchise, but it came close.

A TV show followed which ignored T3. In 2009, the Terminator
franchise would be rebooted with Terminator: Salvation.
Schwarzenegger’s image appeared in that film through CGI. But the
reboot didn’t take and the future of the Terminator film franchise is
uncertain.

In 2004, Schwarzenegger appeared in his final film before “retiring”
to pursue politics. It was a cameo role in the Jackie Chan remake of
Around the World in 80 Days.

I don’t think many people even realized Schwarzenegger was in the
movie. Or that the movie existed. But the Razzie folks took the
opportunity to kick Schwarzenegger on his way out. He was nominated
for a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor and given a special award for
Worst Razzie Loser of Our First 25 Years.

Someone in the comments section is going to come along and talk about
how unfair the Razzies are and I won’t disagree with them.

In 2003, Schwarzenegger was elected to Governor of California in a
special recall election. A total recall, if you will. Sorry about
that. It seemed like another seemless career transition for the
former body builder. But politics proved more difficult than acting.
And in 2011, Schwarzenegger announced he was returning to acting.

Originally, Schwarzenegger was scheduled to return in the form of a
cartoon produced by comic book legend, Stan Lee. Schwarzenegger would
play The Governator, a secret agent with parallels to Schwarzenegger’s
real life. Frankly, it sounded awful. Even worse than Lee’s previous
cartoon collaboration with a cartoonish celebrity, Striperella with
Pamela Anderson.

Fortunately, The Governator cartoon never happened. Around this time,
rumors started to spread about Schwarzenegger’s personal life. There
had long been rumors about steroid use and sexual misconduct. But
while Schwarzenegger was successful, nothing much came of the
allegations. But this time, it was discovered that Schwarzenegger had
a child out-of-wedlock with their housekeeper.

The revelation ended Schwarzenegger’s marriage to Maria Shriver. And
the scandal resulted in the cancellation of The Governator cartoon
which was to have featured Schwarzenegger’s real life.

I honestly can’t believe the idea got as far as it did. Stan, cut it
out.

Schwarzenegger’s return to acting was put on temporary hold. He
released an autobiography entitled Total Recall in which he discussed
his marital infidelities. A cynical man (such as myself) might see
this as a crass attempt to profit from his indiscretions while
attempting to get back into America’s good graces. Although I really
don’t think it matters all that much. Audiences have proven they
don’t care about these things.

Reportedly, Schwarzenegger turned down $40 million dollars to star in
two Terminator movies. Instead, he has chosen to return to the Conan
franchise. It has been described as Schwarzenegger’s Unforgiven in
that he is returning to his roots.

In 2010, Schwarzenegger appeared in Sylvester Stallone’s ode to action
has-beens, The Expendables. Thje cameo was basically an in-joke
between the former action stars. But it could also have been an
attempt by the then-governor to test the waters.

Against all odds, The Expendables was a hit which rejuvenated the
dormant career of Stallone. So in 2012, a sequel followed.

In the first film, it was almost like Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis
were doing Stallone a favor by appearing in his movie. Stallone’s
career was that far gone. But after the first film was a hit,
Schwarzenegger and Willis both agreed to bigger roles in the sequel.
Expendables 2 was another hit for the aging action stars.

Schwarzenegger has no less than three films scheduled for release in
2013 and Conan scheduled the following year. A comeback is definitely
a possibility. The odds are long, but Schwarzenegger has faced longer
odds before.

[RichA]

Was the outsized action star a aberration, a product of the 1980's?
Or is it that Hollywood today just doesn't make the right movies or
cast the right people to play heroes?

[Michael OConnor]

Going into an Ahnold movie, you always knew what you would get - the
likable hero who never took himself too seriously and always had his
wink at the camera and his corny catchphrases and he'd kill all the
bad guys in creative ways and save the day and hardly get a scratch on
him doing so. The only one of his action films where I think he even
tried to play a flawed character and do so in a dramatic way was in
End of Days, which is also the only one of his action films (except
for the Terminator movies) that he died in the end. He had a much
bigger career than I ever imagined, I always felt the public would get
tired of his schtick, but he was larger than life on and off the
screen and immensely likable and he was awfully good at making films
that (while many of them were awful) appealed to a mass audience.

[RichA]

On Dec 3, 7:25 pm, Lewis <g.kr...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <d82d7bf4-c2a4-481e-96df-b36db1522...@b4g2000pby.googlegroups.com>

> You need someone who is willing to play largely one-dimensional
> characters and give them just enough depth and humor to engage the
> audience. That is rather a rare quality, as most people want to be
> considered as 'real' actors, or else lack the ability to give that
> little extra something that pulls the audience along with a wink and
> a nod.
>
> This is something that Arnie was brilliant at. Films like Commando,
> Twins, True Lies, Predator, and Terminator 2 were perfect examples of
> this.
>
> There really wasn't another star like him. The closest was Sly Stallone,
> but he had just enough acting ability that he fell into that trap of
> wanting to be taken seriously. While he had some good roles that showed
> he could act (Rocky, True Blood, Rocky Balboa) mostly he made action
> movies that he seemed to think had some deeper meaning (Rambo III,
> Demolition Man, Judge Dread) but were really just terrible movies. The
> trouble was, they were also successful movies, so they simply encouraged
> him.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Demolition Man, but compare it to either
> Total Recall or True Lies and I think you'll see my point: Stallone was
> never up to Schwarzenegger in just pure star appeal and likability on
> screen.

RAMBO.