Austrian-American bodybuilding champion Arnold Schwarzenegger made a legacy by starring in Hollywood’s some of the most popular franchises over the years. Not only that, but he has managed to keep himself just as fit even after being well into his 70s.
As a result, even after more than 4 decades of a successful Hollywood career, he still is one of the most sought-after actors of all time.
However, all of these never would have seen the light of day, if not for a heated argument with James Cameron on the set of their movie The Terminator way back in the 1980s. The conflict began when Cameron asked him to recite a line that he thought sounded weird.
Rejecting that idea completely, he started arguing with the director until Cameron then made him recite it not just once but ten times over in ten different ways right then and there. And although Schwarzenegger found it simply ridiculous at that time, that very line became the most iconic catchphrase of his entire career.
Arnold Schwarzenegger thought the famous Terminator catchphrase was stupid
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the former Governor of California had a long chat about his life, experiences in the industry, as well as his future plans for his career.
During that, The Austrian Oak revealed that the proper launch of his career in the industry, that is, The Terminator, might not have been as iconic as it turned out to be if it wasn’t for James Cameron. According to him, they almost went ahead without the movie’s famous catchphrase, “I’ll be back,” because it sounded ridiculous to him.
In fact, he was so against the idea that he started arguing with James Cameron saying, “I will be back,” would be way more powerful just to get out of the situation. However, James Cameron in his true fashion set his foot down and gave Schwarzenegger a warning saying,
“Are you the scriptwriter now? It’s just one word. Don’t tell me how to write. I don’t tell you how to act.”
Things got even more heated after that, as Schwarzenegger started protesting saying that the Avatar director always tells him how to act until he explained,
“What makes it great is that you sound different than me or Charlie over there. That’s what makes it work.”
And then the camera started rolling again as Cameron directed Arnold Schwarzenegger to say it differently 10 times over until they can choose their pick. Schwarzenegger, of course, found it entirely ridiculous, as he noted in the interview,
“So they set it up, and I say: “(Flatly) I’ll be back … (cheerful) I’ll be back! … (guttural) I’ll beeee baaaack …” It sounded stupid.”
Although at the time this entire sequence might have felt awkward to him, he was pleasantly surprised when after its release, people started coming over to him and asking him to recite the line. Something, that according to him, keeps occurring even now.
Arnold Schwarzenegger might not return for the next Terminator movie
Although the movie started his first journey to stardom in the earlier days of his career, it seems that he is now done with that chapter of his life. The reason behind this, he claimed, was-
“I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator.”
And for that, according to him, “Someone has to come up with a great idea.” As such, even though he will always be fond of the franchise, it has served its purpose and he has already moved on.
Fortunately for the fans though, the Conan the Barbarian star has no plans to ever retire from the industry. He claimed that he plans to live and act forever, just as cheerfully as he is doing it now.
This is something that has pleased his fans greatly as the confirmation that they will keep seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger in the coming years in more projects even after his TV series debut FUBAR, and his biographical docuseries Arnold arrives on Netflix soon.
FUBAR will be available on May 25th, and Arnold on June 7th, 2023 on Netflix.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
