Thursday, November 21, 1996
FILM:
In his new film, Arnold Schwarzenegger looks to prove his
comedic success once againBy Emily Forster
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
He is a legend in his own time.
When he flexes his sharply sculpted physique and as he utters
his renowned threat, "I’ll be back," the world knows that Arnold
Schwarzenegger is in his element.
Whether it is an outlandish comedy or an action blockbuster, he
is recognized by fans as the same old Schwarzenegger on screen.
Whether his steely blue eyes are glaring at an enemy or his angular
face is breaking into a goofy smile to reveal the small but notable
space between his two front teeth, the Austrian-born body builder
has become an expert at bringing comedy to his action and action to
his comedy.
Schwarzenegger explains that this duality in his work is only
natural for someone who, although thought of as mostly an action
star, got his start in comedy.
"I always liked comedy and it was always part of my work,"
Schwarzenegger says. "People forget that the first specific project
that I did, ‘Hercules in New York,’ was a comedy. It was a shitty
movie, but it was a comedy. Then Lucille Ball hired me in 1974 for
‘Happy Anniversary Goodbye,’ which was a comedy. The first movie
that ever broke the $200 million record for me was a comedy. It was
‘Twins.’ Comedy has been a big part of my career."
This is obvious with his upcoming "Jingle All the Way." Playing
Howard Langston, a father desperate to make up for the lack of
attention he pays to his son, Schwarzenegger goes through one
PG-rated action sequence after another, constantly battling with
comedians Sinbad and Phil Hartman, in his search to find his son
the dream toy, Turbo Man.
His words occasionally distorted, first by an apricot danish and
later a fat cigar, Schwarzenegger discusses his family and his
career with the same confidence that his characters battle with
villains.
With his successful career it is no surprise that he exudes
confidence. But Schwarzenegger was not always a physical or
financial powerhouse. Born in 1947, he grew up in the messy
aftermath of the second World War.
"We had no TV, we had no money, there were no toys around. My
brother and I couldn’t say ‘We want this toy or that toy.’ We
didn’t know of any toys. So we were getting much more practical
kinds of gifts, like snow," Schwarzenegger jokes, then adds more
soberly, "My mother would knit a sweater or we’d get a sled. It was
a very sweet kind of Christmas that we had and it was very
wonderful, but it was more about the spiritual aspect of Christmas
rather than the toys."
Schwarzenegger did not mind his family’s lack of material goods.
It’s not that he was beyond materialism, he was just ignorant to
the possessions he did not have.
"I didn’t know as a kid," Schwarzenegger says. "It’s one thing
if you see or hear the wealth and the fun. But if you just grow up
and get conditioned that this is the world, you don’t feel that
way. The first television I saw was when I was 10 years old. I
didn’t know that kids in other parts of the world saw television
already from the age of one. I had no idea so it didn’t bother
me."
Schwarzenegger describes the first television owned in Graz, his
village in Austria, as a sensation. But since the beginning of his
career, Schwarzenegger has given his village much more to boast
about. First he gained attention as the proud winner of the Mr.
Universe contest at the age of 20, then he gained a fan following
as the star of the $100 million grossing "Conan the Barbarian," and
then with his role in 1983 in the low-budget independent James
Cameron film "The Terminator," Schwarzenegger found himself a movie
star in high demand.
Since then Schwarzenegger has garnered respect from the industry
as an action star in films like "The Running Man" and "Total
Recall" and as a comedic star in hits like "Twins" and
"Kindergarten Cop." But if anyone had doubts about Schwarzenegger’s
ability to draw crowds, they were proved wrong with the $500
million grossing "Terminator 2: Judgement Day."
Schwarzenegger’s co-stars will attest to the Austrian actor’s
screen charisma. Before Sinbad knew that he would have the
opportunity to work with Schwarzenegger, he thought the action hero
was legendary.
"To work with a guy like this is amazing," Sinbad says. "In your
career you have a list of guys you’d like to work with. I saw
Arnold in ‘Running Man’ and I said ‘I’ve got to do a movie with
this man.’ To this day I still want to do a ‘Terminator’ with him
or a ‘Predator 3’ Â just an all-out, testosterone,
destroy-some-aliens kind of movie."
It is those "destroy-some-aliens" movies that Schwarzenegger
gains the most financial success from, but this success originally
hurt his ability to do more than just action. Although
Schwarzenegger’s filmography is filled with crowd pleasing hit
after hit, his maneuvering through the Hollywood quagmire was not
as easy as it may appear. He had confidence in his comedic
abilities but studio heads wanted to keep him at the forefront of
action films.
"The studio system did not like the idea of me doing comedies,
not because they didn’t feel like I couldn’t do it, but they said,
‘If we give him a comedy, we take away a slot for an action movie.
He has the ideal body for an action star. Finally we have a guy
that actually looks believable that he can do all this action.’ And
so this was like a gold mine for them," Schwarzenegger says. "They
said, ‘This is it. He can act, he can get through the action, so
let’s give him ‘Conan the Barbarian,’ ‘Conan, the Destroyer,’ let’s
do a deal for the next 20 ‘Conan’ movies.’ That was the studio idea
of what I should do. Not what I can do, what I should do."
But Schwarzenegger got his big break into other film genres when
he was approached by Ivan Reitman for a project with Danny DeVito.
From then on, Schwarzenegger was allowed to do as he pleased.
"When Ivan Reitman came along and said ‘I want to do a comedy
with you’ it was like two forces saying I could do comedy because
he was a director and a star," recalls Schwarzenegger. "So then the
studio went along, especially when we said we’d take no money. We
made the movie for $16 million.
"That opened a door of opportunities because you know how
Hollywood works. They’re all copycats. It’s like everyone’s copying
everyone. So then they said ‘If it’s true that he can do a comedy,
let’s send him a comedy script.’ Then all of a sudden, I’m getting
all these comedy scripts. Then after I did ‘Terminator’ all of a
sudden I got all these scripts playing villains. That’s how Mr.
Freeze came along. They said ‘Arnold’s already played one great
villain. Maybe he can play this one.’"
The character of Mr. Freeze is one of the bad guys in this
summer’s "Batman and Robin," the next in the "Batman" series.
Typically it is the cream of the Hollywood crop that get a chance
at playing a villain in the "Batman" films, so it is no surprise
that Schwarzenegger has been selected. He wields so much weight
that he can make virtually any reasonable project he wants.
"I think that I can get any deal I want, within a certain
framework, in one hour," says Schwarzenegger. "If I say, ‘Here’s
this great action movie’ they go ‘I know Arnold well enough. He’s
not going to pick a script that is not going to be successful.’ So
they would have the confidence that they would make their money
back.
"Let’s say I want to do a dramatic movie or a dramatic love
story like ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ Â that movie cost
$3 to make. The studio will green light it in two seconds because
there is no risk involved. Clint Eastwood went out to shoot that
movie for six weeks, went home and went back to golfing. So of
course the studio’s not gonna say no if I have, let’s say Sharon
Stone and me doing this love story that turns out fatal and
whatever. They may say ‘This is a very risky project  are you
willing to cut your salary?’ And then you say ‘I don’t want a
salary. Give me the back end and we both will take the risk.’
There’s no problem with that, because like I said, I’ve been known
for making projects that are internationally commercial. In one
hour. Any deal I want I can get in one hour."
20th Century Fox
Arnold Schwarzenegger as Howard Langston in his upcoming film
"Jingle All The Way."