LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has now become synonymous with the American Dream, has scripted his own story of success. The Austrian-born multifaceted celebrity - who is at once a professional bodybuilder, actor, and politician - was once helmed to be a misfit in Hollywood because of his broad physique (the same set of shoulders that earned him the title of Mr Olympia) and his heavily accented English.
However, soaring above all criticisms, the ‘Commando’ actor commanded all admiration and wrote his own success story that is a fairy tale in itself. However, even the actor in the multibillion-dollar franchise ‘The Terminator’ had to hear criticism for his looks and his accent. As Schwarzenegger is gearing up for the release of his biographical docuseries 'Arnold' on Netflix on June 7, let's have a look at the story that chronicles not only his hardships but also his determination.
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‘Your body is too big’
The ‘Predator’ star once said during an interview with iNews, “In Hollywood, they said I would never become a leading man,” He explained, his large frame was the point of discontent for many, “They used to say, ‘Your body is too big’. This is the 1970s and people like Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino and Woody Allen, they are sex symbols. I said, ‘Oh, Jesus.’” he was compared with Hollywood’s golden boys Al Pacino and Woody Allen who were considered to be the then sex symbols.
Not only his looks but allegedly his accent used to give them “creeps.” The former governor of California further said, “Then they said, ‘Plus your accent gives me the creeps. We can use you maybe to play a Nazi or something like that.’”
'I needed to work on my acting and English accent'
Always a doer, who soared above everything, Schwarzenegger himself accepted in Sacramento Metro Chamber’s annual ‘Perspectives’ event in 2001, that he has never allowed his background to be an obstacle to his ambition, rather he used it to his “advantage.” “My background has never held me back. Instead, I’ve used it to my advantage - to fuel the intense desire to get the hell out of there! It's that desire that powered a very strong will in me,” he said.
He chronicled his epiphanic moment in the same speech about how he realized his dream of pursuing a career in bodybuilding, “One day, I saw a magazine in a store window. The cover showed a muscle man in an ancient warrior costume, posing like this... It said, "Mr Universe Now Starring In Hercules Movie.” He further continued, “I scraped up the pfennigs that I had left and bought that magazine. It turned out that Hercules was an English guy who’d won the Mr Universe title in bodybuilding, and parlayed that into a movie career - then took the money and built a gym empire.”
It was then he got his idol who indirectly inspired him to become the Mr Universe and would eventually lead his path to Hollywood, “His name was Reg Park. Bingo! I had my role model! If he could do it, I could do it! I’d win Mr Universe. I’d become a movie star. I’d get rich. One, two, three - bing, bang, boom! I found my passion. I got my goal.”
It was then, he talked about the humiliation that he had to suffer at the hands of the top-notch Hollywood society, “.. when I got to Hollywood, people really laughed their heads off. The agents said: "No one's ever made it with that big a body -- or that bad an accent - or that long and foreign a name. You in movies? Stop it! You're killing me!"”
Still, despite everything, he landed an acting role in the movie ‘Hercules in New York.’ However, he didn’t have to work on his accent then as his portions were dubbed. While the movie became a commercial and critical failure, it was a “stepping stone” for Schwarzenegger in Hollywood. It also made him realize that he had to work on his accent just like he used to work on his body. The father of five said, "Because when that movie came out, it went right into the toilet,” he realized the requirement for hard work, according to Emirates 24/7.
He continued, "I never shy away from failure. But [Hercules] was a good stepping stone for me,” before adding, "I needed to work on my acting and work on my English accent.”
"I worked on my accent five hours a day, just like I worked on my body five hours a day," said the actor who then landed coveted roles in ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Conan the Barbarian.’
'All of a sudden it became acceptable'
His American Dream came true also as he started getting recognition from the directors like James Cameron of ‘The Terminator’ and the director of ‘Conan the Barbarian’ John Milius. He shared how Milius rather appreciated his body, “John Milius said in the press conference: ‘If we didn’t have Schwarzenegger, we would have to build one.’ In that moment my body became a plus.” Even Cameron praised his hard work, “After that I did Terminator, and James Cameron at a press conference said, ‘What really makes this movie work is Arnie talks like a machine.’ I don’t know if it was meant as a compliment.”
These success stories catapulted his fame and established him as one of the leading men in the Hollywood industry. The real estate magnate then said, “All of a sudden it became acceptable, and then it changed from acceptable to hip, then it ended up that I had the most-quoted lines in movies because I said things differently and sometimes wrong.”
Since then, Schwarzenegger is amalgamating hard work and diligence to script his path to success.
