Arnold Schwarzenegger: Total Control

Warm notices and a Golden Globe as best male newcomer convinced Arnold that his screen destiny lay beyond togas and loincloths, though he did bare his assets for Cosmopolitan photographer Francesco Scavullo--a move that put him in the company of such Cosmo nudies as John Davidson, Jim Brown, and David Hasselhoff.

Schwarzenegger's bod again became the focal point in Pumping Iron, an ersatz documentary that depicts him mercilessly (and hilariously) mind-f*cking competitors with practical jokes and bogus advice, comparing pumping up to orgasms, and chatting about skipping his father's funeral because he was in training. He worked the camera like a charismatic starlet in heat. Some of the most intriguing moments--such as Schwarzenegger allegedly praising Hitler, at one point-were deleted by the director. But enough remains--including shots in which Schwarzenegger's apparently blowing a joint.

"I don't know why [you] should be sorry when you do something in a film," he asserts, leaning backward as he slowly swivels in his chair. "Someone asked me if I thought it was going to backfire that I once took steroids. [But] when you have done some of those things, a lot of people can relate to you better because they don't feel you're some square dude who preaches down at them. Half of [the movie] was made-up stuff. I don't look back on this movie at all." But a former colleague who characterizes Schwarzenegger as "an incredibly seductive, ambitious opportunist" calls Pumping Iron "as close as [Schwarzenegger] is likely ever again to willingly let his public penetrate that armor."

After allegedly turning down a retro gig as a muscle stud for 86-year-old Mae West in Sextette, Schwarzenegger was next cast in The Villain. Director Hal Needham recalls him from that time as "no dumb f*ck but a very bright man with no ego at all." Not even about his grin? "The dentist asked me, 'Do you want me to make this permanent?' " Schwarzenegger recalls of the prosthetic appliance meant to help him embody his role as The Handsome Stranger. "I said, 'No, I like my split.' It made me realize that everything that normally does not work in this town--my name, my body, my accent--now worked to my advantage to really separate myself from a million other actors." (In fact, despite years of speech and diction lessons to soften his accent, Schwarzenegger--like Maurice Chevalier or Zsa Zsa Gabor--seems to lard it on all the more as his fame increases.)

After Schwarzenegger portrayed Mickey Hargitay in "The Jayne Mansfield Story," on TV, Dino De Laurentiis reluctantly caved in to pressure from director John Milius and cast Schwarzenegger in two Conan movies that made $200 million worldwide. And then Schwarzenegger became the action genre's G.I. Joe with The Terminator, Commando, and Red Heat. "I felt that I should do great action movies until I established myself internationally in that genre," Schwarzenegger explains, sounding rather like an investment analyst. "But I was always mentally thinking 'I've got to make sure that I do other kinds of mainstream movies.' "

He won his chance to star in Twins, the crossover hit that has changed his career, through cool calculation. "I nurture relationships," Schwarzenegger explains, "like with Ivan [Reitman, director of Twins]. We hung out skiing in Aspen. The more he got to know me, the more he saw that I have this side and that side. I said, 'We should work together.' The same with Paul Verhoeven [director of Total Recall]. I talked to him, met with him many times, we ate together, until he really felt comfortable and said, 'I would love to do a movie with you.' "

By the time of Total Recall, Schwarzenegger was in a powerful position for courting--and calling the shots. The 10-year-old script had previously attracted such talent as Richard Rush, David Cronenberg, and Bruce Beresford who, in 1987, was two months away from beginning production with Patrick Swayze in the lead, when Dino De Laurentiis, who owned the script, went bankrupt. Schwarzenegger persuaded Carolco to buy the project--despite its $6 million plus in overhead--and convinced them that Paul Verhoeven Robocop was the man to direct it. (Carolco eventually got the script for $3-5 million.) Even reworked by screenwriters Ronald Shusett and Gary Goldman to accommodate Schwarzenegger's screen persona, the central role of a man haunted by dreams of another life was no routine bench-press. "The script fascinated me," Schwarzenegger explains, brightening up considerably at the prospect of talking up a barnstormer for which he was reportedly paid $10 million and will earn 15% of the gross. "It was not a typical career move. There are certain decisions you make in life based only on your instinctive feelings."

While many of the 300 cast and crew members were frazzled by 20 weeks of shooting in Mexico, the actor--as usual--played cheerleader, antagonizer, and practical joker. "No matter what the problems, I have the most fun of anyone on the set," he says. Often that fun is strictly at a below-the-belt, boot-camp level. Screenwriter/co-producer Ronald Shusett recalls Schwarzenegger rousing him from a catnap on the set by pouring ice water on his crotch. A production aide remembers another occasion, one night in a cantina, when the actor plied a non-drinking friend with tequilas until she vomited on the man sitting next to her.

All right, we know Schwarzenegger can be a cut-up, but can he act. Total Recall director Paul Verhoeven means it as high praise when he predicts Schwarzenegger could be "another Charlton Heston." Perhaps Total Recall will settle the debate as to whether Schwarzenegger, who once told an interviewer, "I have a love interest in every one of my films--a gun," should stick to nuzzling Uzi's onscreen. This is the first movie to demand of him a convincing display of intimacy, with a wife (Sharon Stone) and a girlfriend (Rachel Ticotin).

"I had on a little nightgown and he was supposed to be nude," says Sharon Stone, recalling the shooting of a love scene with Schwarzenegger on a semi-closed set. "He had on tiny little underpants. He was so shy, it was adorable--there was a tremendous vulnerability." (On the other hand, Stone says that Schwarzenegger has yet to appreciate his strength: a fight scene between them left the actress badly bruised for days.)

"In action films, you pretty much know I'm there to kick some ass," Schwarzenegger says, grinning, shooting a nearly imperceptible glance at his desk clock. "The trick now is to do the opposite because it works much better for the general public--but you also have to be sensitive to the original hardcore audience because you don't want to lose the $70 million that action movies seem to always bring in."

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