THE ARNOLD FAN INTERVIEWS THE OAK!Q & A with an Austrian Icon! Reported By: Randy Jennings Wednesday, February 21st, 2002 On Wednesday, February 21st, The ARNOLD FAN was invited on the Warner Brothers studio lot. Our mission: to report on the shooting schedule of events for Arnold's "Collateral Damage". Our reward: more action and celebrity interviews than we could hope for. Not only were we able to encounter the afternoon's explosive filming of the pivotal elevator shaft scene in STAGE 15, but we also were able to interview Arnold himself! After watching Schwarzenegger hop around inside of a elevator shaft from one floor to the next in pursuit of his adversary, The Oak was now ready for his first official "Collateral Damage" interview. Arnold Schwarzenegger walked up to us and gave our group a welcome "Hello." Arnold was then officially informed who we were and I was ready for his griping handshake and introductions. Standing just a couple of feet away from us, Schwarzenegger prepared himself for an interview in front of a "bad light source" according to the cameraman. To me, Arnold never looked better. "Ah, It's like bad Terminator 3 lighting," Arnold cracked in reference to the horrible Skynet-looking intense light. The Helicopter backdrop to Schwarzenegger even looked like the aftermath of a James Cameron nuclear war. While Arnold's microphone was being attached to his shirt, he stood there wearing his massive brown boots, tattered shirt, scruffy 5 o'clock shadow, and his movie wounds. The blood on his wrist and forehead made you concerned for a second but Schwarzenegger's charismatic personality made me believe he was in top shape-mentally and physically. Just when we had our questions prepared and were ready to fire away; Andrew Davis was heard shouting into his megaphone for cameras to roll. Schwarzenegger told us we better wait for that scene to finish. It was an awkward moment standing right next to Arnold and not getting to say anything. It was like we were just hanging out with him without words being spoken. "Okay, I think we are ready," said Arnold turning back to us. The second the cameraman said "Okay" we all bombarded Arnold with questions. TAF: Arnold, have you had any injuries on the set or other near-fatal accidents like you had in "True Lies" and "The 6th Day"? Arnold: (laughs) "Uh, no. We're always very careful in the way we do the stunts and all that. You just have to really watch out. The moments where you come very close to death, in any of those stunts, are not usually the "dangerous" stunts. It's usually the things where you don't think anything will happen at all, and you don't have to be as careful. THOSE are the moments where you have to be most careful." Q: "Can you tell us a little about the movie?" Arnold: Well, it would take a while to tell you everything about that. I got interested in it because I'd have a change in my career here. For a change, I don't play a cop (laughs). I play a fireman, but a heroic fireman, and yet an ordinary guy that doesn't start out as being a hero. Then, through circumstances, he's kind of forced into this situation where his family is getting killed in a bomb attack by guerillas from Columbia. He's forced into a situation where he has to go down to Columbia and find the killers. Of course, that becomes the big journey, and it becomes this huge adventure movie. It's also a very dramatic movie because there's always this question that, once he finds the killers, is he adding fuel to the fire by maybe killing Columbians? Doesn't that make them come back and kill more Americans? It would continue that cycle, and should he be the one to stop it? So he's dealing with all these questions, and then, of course, there are all these interesting twists at the end that I find quite interesting. As a character piece, it was really interesting. The whole story, I found fascinating, because it's based so much on reality of what American and Columbian relationship is all about now. It's a big mess, and the character that I play finds out about this big mess, and he sees that there're death squads, there's the military, then the guerillas, the drug lords, the CIA, the FBI - all of this is kind of together in this melting pot. How do you figure out who is in control and who's not? Q: I'm sure that your nearly identical stunt double, Billy, helps quite a bit. What's his deal? Arnold: Billy Lucas is a terrific friend, but also an extremely tough guy. Billy is a trained stuntman, he was also in the military - he has a great military background in the Marines. He's one of those guys that is very physical, but at the same time very intelligent. He can figure out how far he can go with the physical activities we see in these stunts. And he designs them himself because he's also the stunt coordinator. He does a lot of the rigging - he can figure out how to rig it so you land under this waterfall without drowning or getting into heavy danger. He would be the first person to jump in anything. I've seen him jump out of airplanes; I've seen him make the most incredible dives. He's very courageous, and you know, I've never seen anyone like him. Of course, for me it's ideal because Billy Lucas weighs exactly the same body weight I have. He pretty much looks like me from the side, especially under really strange lighting like we have now. With this lighting, he looks very much like me - which means very handsome, and very studly. It's fun having a guy like that to do your stunts, and also to design the stunts. Q: What's it been like working with Andrew Davis as a director? Arnold: Well, we were going to do the film "Running Man", but he left. So I've been trying to find another picture we could do because I'm a big admirer of his work. This was ideal. The producers of this film liked Andy Davis, they liked his work, and they liked the way he shoots - 4, 5, 6 cameras. I always feel sorry for the editors because they have to cut 5 times as much footage than any normal director uses. It's very interesting the way he shoots and he's very good directing actors. Hang on, now we have to wait again because they're shooting. Q: What are you adversaries like in the film? Arnold: Well, I'd say just about everyone is an adversary in this film. When I go to shoot Columbia (which we did in Mexico, in Juarez/Santa Cruz), everywhere I look - the environment itself; the jungle, the animals, the water, the people, the guerillas, the army - everyone that's chasing after me are all enemies. Then, I think I come up against somebody that could be an ally, because he's American and the head of the CIA operation down in Columbia. He becomes the main enemy. I'm surrounded in this movie by enemies and by unbelievable villains. But you know, eventually he just has to take care of those guys. Q: What's it like working with Francesca Neri? Arnold: Francesca was a great find because she is one of the hottest actresses in Europe. Someone that is as talented and well known as she is - not only in Italy, but all over Europe - and has been in so many movies, I think is a great addition. Also, she looks very much like a Columbian woman would - she has a dark complexion, dark hair. She has a Latin kind of accent that she brings. I think it's really terrific and she plays the part really well. She's very sensitive in some ways and very powerful in other ways. Sadly after a little more than five minutes, Arnold was called back on the set to "work." Before we got the boot off the set, I had to watch Arnold in action in that elevator shaft as long as I could. As we all scattered and said our good-byes outside of STAGE 15, I loitered for a few more minutes. The "magic door" opened and Arnold Schwarzenegger, finished with the days' shoot, had emerged. He walked out with his buddies Billy Lucas and Stan Winston, master of special effects. Arnold left the magic movie world and was ready to step back into his daily routine: Bodybuilder, family man, charity giver and mentor to all. ---------- |