Arnold Schwarzenegger: Total Control

Schwarzenegger's careful "nurturing" of Hollywood's power people would seem to have paid off. His wooing of Twins director Ivan Reitman has led to their reunion on Kindergarten Cop (Arnold tough with street scum, Arnold tender with tykes), now shooting. Schwarzenegger's dance card may also include writer Steven De Souza's Critic's Choice in which the actor-- whom one of his directors calls "John Wayne with humor"--is expected to attempt a Cary Grant. There have even been unsubstantiated rumors that Schwarzenegger will star as a '30s-era shamus in a long-delayed movie version of Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest. With no discernible doubt in his voice, Schwarzenegger reports, "I have good relationships with other directors that I want to work with--Dick Donner, Bob Zemeckis--and Michael Douglas has a great comedy project for me. So, eventually, we will end up doing a movie."

The former swordsman appears to assess his future personal life even more carefully. "Being married and having a child, you subconsciously make decisions that include them. I spend much more time at home because you want to see the baby during the day. Career is one thing, but the most joy is brought to me by my family."

He does not see himself repeating his father's disciplinarian policies--for example, returning his son's letters from America with spelling and grammatical mistakes marked in red--with his own daughter, who is being raised in an 8,000-square-foot Pacific Palisades villa festooned with works of Chagall, Miro, and Wyeth. "If I would be like my father, my kid would be in an institution because she would see how the other kids grow up." Aside from parenting, Schwarzenegger calls directing his "immediate goal." Although critics were dubious about Schwarzenegger's directorial debut, a segment of "Tales From the Crypt," he says, "I can't wait to find another 'window' in my schedule to direct something else."

And, speaking of schedules and windows, after several meaningful glances toward his publicist, Schwarzenegger calls a firm meeting's end. One last query: How might future film historians remember him? "I already go to the limit of praising myself," he says, after a few false starts. "It always sounds much better if someone else says nice things about you." I persist. After several moments, he says: "As the actor who had the greatest time." And, no doubt, the greatest control.

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Stephen Rebello has written several cover stories for Movieline, including last month's interview with Sean Young. He is the author of Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.

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