LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Hollywood legend Arnold Schwarzenegger detailed various aspects of his life, including his career as a bodybuilder, serving as the governor of California and also the ups and downs that he has seen in his illustrious acting career in Netflix's three-part docuseries 'Arnold'.
The 75-year-old recounted an incident where he was absolutely devastated after his first box-office flop, 'Last Action Hero'. The "Austrian Oak" was already a six-time Mr Olympia title holder and also a well-known name by the time he made his swift transition from his bodybuilding career to Hollywood. After starting his move as a full-time actor, Arnold initially struggled to get major roles in the 1970s but later got his big break through the 1982 epic fantasy-adventure Conan the Barbarian, which cemented his position as one of the top action stars at that time.
Schwarzenegger's first box office flop hurt him
The meta-action comedy movie, "Last Action Hero" which was directed by Die Hard's John McTiernan and co-written by Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black, was bound to become successful but instead was hit by critical responses along with poor box office collection. The movie earned $15.3 million at the domestic box office and $50 million worldwide. The actor admitted that he was "upset" and embarrassed by Last Action Hero's failure.
James Cameron's call to Schwarzenegger
James Cameron, who directed The Terminator films and made Arnold a household name, recalls dialing the star the weekend after the movie opened. "When Last Action Hero came out I had reached my peak after Terminator 2, having the most successful movie of the year worldwide," Schwarzenegger says. When the reviews regarding the movie started to come out, "I cannot tell you how upset that I was," he says according to Entertainment Weekly. "It hurts you. It hurts your feelings. It's embarrassing."
Cameron says, "He sounded like he was in bed crying. He took it as a deep blow to his brand. I think it really shook him." I said, 'What are you gonna do?'" Cameron recounts. "He said, 'I'm just gonna hang out by myself.'" Cameron says with a laugh, "That's the only time I've ever heard him down."
"I didn't want to see anyone for a week," Schwarzenegger adds. "But you keep plodding along. And my mother-in-law also said this all the time: 'Let's just move forward.' It's a great message."
Schwarzenegger later found himself watching the 1991 French comedy adventure La Totale! at the suggestion of his brother-in-law Bobby. It would later serve as the plot of his next 1994 film with Cameron named True Lies. "Arnold's bringing me a project that he believes in," Cameron says. "He'd never done that before. I thought we could have fun with comedy. I know he had done comedy. He has a good sense of humor."
Cameron and Arnold teamed up to make 'True Lies' which was an American adaptation of the film. It grossed $378 million worldwide and was a big box-office success. "It's a play," he adds. "Life is a play. You have to be able to take the failures with the successes. And that's just the way it is."
