Arnie
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In 1970, Arnold Schwarzenegger was known as the World's Strongest Man. He had long planned to move from bodybuilding into acting, as many of his idols had done. Initially he had trouble breaking into films due to his long surname, "overly" large muscles, and foreign accent, but he was nevertheless chosen to play the role of Hercules in Hercules in New York... Credited under the name "Arnold Strong", his accent in the film was so thick that producers feared he would not be easily understood by audiences, and had his lines dubbed after production. His second film appearance was as a deaf/mute hit-man for the mob in The Long Goodbye (1973), which was followed by a much more significant part in the film Stay Hungry (1976), for which he was awarded a Golden Globe for Best New Male Star. Schwarzenegger drew wide attention and boosted his profile in the body building film Punping Iron (1977). He also appeared with Kirk Douglas in the 1979 film The Villain, yet his breakthrough film was the mythical epic Conan The Barbarian (1982), which was followed by a sequel Conan the Destroyer (1984), which didn't perform that well. ] As an actor, he is best-known as the title character of director James Cameron's influential science fiction film The Terminator (1984) and its sequels. Following The Terminator, Schwarzenegger made Red Sonja in 1985 which effectively bombed. He also made a mark for injecting his films with a droll, often self-deprecating sense of humor (including sometimes famously bad puns). Schwarzenegger's alternative-universe comedy/thriller Last Action Hero featured a poster of the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day which, in that alternate universe, had Stallone as its star; a similar in-joke in Twins suggested that the two actors might one day co-star, something which has yet to happen. During the 1980s audiences had a large appetite for action films, with both Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone becoming international stars. Following his arrival as a Hollywood superstar, he made a number of successful films: Commando (1985), Raw Deal(1986), The Running Man(1987), and Red Heat(1988). In Predator (1987), another successful film, Schwarzenegger led an all star cast, although he did not feature in the sequal. Twins, (1988) a comedy with Danny Devito, was a change of pace and also proved to be successful. Total Recall (1990), at that time the most expensive film ever, netted Schwarzenegger $10 million and 15% of the gross, and was a widely praised, thought-provoking science-fiction script Kindergarten Cop (1990) was another comedy which reunited him with director Ivan Reitman who also directed him in Twins. Schwarzenegger had a brief foray into directing, first with a 1990 episode of the TV series Tales from the Crypt, entitled "The Switch", and then with the 1992 Christmas in Conneticut. Schwarzenegger's critical and commercial high-water mark was the 1991 sequel to his 1984 hit The Terminator, Terminator 2 Judgement Day, which was one of the highest grossing film of the year and surpassed the original film's success. His next film project, the 1993 self-aware action comedy Last Action Hero had the misfortune to be released opposite Jurassic Park, and suffered accordingly. Schwarzenegger's career never again achieved quite the same prominence, his aura of box-office invincibility suffering, although the action comedy True Lies in 1994 was a highly popular send up of spy films, and saw Schwarzenegger reunited with director James Cameron, whose own career had taken off with The Terminator. Shortly thereafter came another comedy Junior in 1994, which reunited him once again with Ivan Reitman as well as Danny DeVito. This film also brought Schwarzenegger his second Golden Globe nomination. It was followed by the popular, action thriller Eraser in 1996, and the comic-book based Batman and Robin in 1997 where he played villain Mr Freeze. This was his final film before taking time to recuperate from a back injury. Following the failure of Batman & Robin, Schwarzenegger's film career and box office prominence went into decline. Several film projects were announced with Schwarzenegger attached to star including the remake of Planet of the Apes, a new film version of I Am Legend (Will Smith), and a World War II film scripted by Tarantino that would have seen Schwarzenegger finally play an Austrian. Instead he returned after a hiatus with the supernatural thriller End of Days in 1999 — an unsuccessful and atypically dark attempt to broaden his acting range. Schwarzenegger later starred in the action films The 6th Day in 2000 and Collateral Damage in 2002, none of which came close to recapturing his former prominence. In 2003 he reprised his most famous role in Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines which was the long-awaited sequel to the 1991 film and went on to earn over $150 million domestically. |
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