We "Ask Arnold" at the 2009 Arnold Classic!
Ryan and Brandon Get Exclusive Answers!

Reported By: The Gillinator
Tuesday, March 10, 2009

"It is time!"

Gillinator here. We made it to Columbus, Ohio and back in one piece after another amazing Arnold Classic weekend that was both exhausting and thrilling as hell! As Brandon stated before, he was a Classic "virgin" this being his first time attending, but it was also almost a whole new experience for me as well. It was my 5th time, but the first time, thanks to Randy's excellent connections, with the precious press pass! This means we had access I've never had before during the Bodybuilding Finals and other events. Plus, thanks to the aid of the legendary Roger Bir, we got loads of talk time with the great bodybuilding legends from the "Pumping Iron" era, as well as the man who partnered with Arnold and runs the Classic each year, Jim Lorimer! We were equipped with video and still cameras the whole time, so get ready for loads of great media as we unload it here over the next couple weeks!

Brandon and I will be posting alternating stories to give you our Classic experience as detailed as possible. First, I'll get right to the best part of it all: talking to the Austrian Oak himself! Sunday morning if you get your ass up early and go to Vets Memorial, you get the rare opportunity to listen to Arnold talk and ask him a question of any topic you want! At this "Ask Arnold Fitness Seminar" BOTH Brandon and I were picked by Arnold to ask a question, and one right after the other no less! We'll come back to Arnold's opening talk and Brandon's question in a future story where you can see it all on video, but we wanted to get my question's response up immediately since it pertains to his upcoming movie appearances.

Ryan: My name is Ryan Gillen, I am also with TheArnoldFans.com and we learned from McG last week that he showed you the new Terminator movie and that you liked it and gave him the OK to use your image and voice in the film. If thats true thats Fantastic because what's a Terminator movie without Arnold?

Crowd Claps and Woo's!

Ryan Continues: And were also excited about you doing a cameo for your buddy Sly in The Expendables. Were curious if you do decide to return to starring in movies after your out of office, what franchises would you most like to re-visit or would you try something new?

Arnold: Well, first of all let me just say that I get that question often, of what am I going to do after I'm finished with this job as Governor, and as you know if the constitution would be different... I know what I would do.

Crowd Cheers and Claps

Arnold Continues: But thats.. thats not the case. So I really don't, think much about it at this point because we have such unbelievable problems in our state that I'd rather concentrate fully on the state, and try and fix the problems. Because I have, like I said 2 more years so there's plenty of time for me to fix the things that are broken. I promised when I was elected that I would go to Sacramento and to fix things that are broken. We've worked very hard to fix some of those things. Some of the things are much tougher to fix than I thought it would take.. uh much longer. But you never give up because I've always said I'm like an Alabama tick. I hang there (crowd laughs) and I'm dug in, and I will go and do everything we can to fix those things. And this year for instance we have already one of the biggest mistakes as I've said with the budget... we are fixing that now. And it's up for a vote, the people on May 19th with a special election, people can vote on that then. And that will be a huge huge move forward again to fix something that has been broken for like I said 6 decades, and the next thing is to reform health care and to go through those things all the way with the handling.

I think that if I do a great job with that, then the opportunities, these endless amount of opportunities available, then I don't really have to be really concerned about what my next movie is, because if I do a good job, then those opportunities, if it is in show business or if it is to continue on in politics or if it is to go and become maybe a important model in protecting the environment or if it is to continue on in government reform, political reform. Whatever it may be, there's endless amount of opportunities there so I'm looking forward for that, because you never know where life takes you, and in the mean time we're trying to fix the things that need to be fixed in California and I feel like I stay very passionate about that.

Then some guy doesnt have a question, he just wants to say Hi, and wants to shake Arnold's hand. He asks in a Boston Accent. Arnold says yes to him, then remembers about Ryan's question, and goes back to that.

Arnold: I also just wanted to go back to your question because I forgot to answer your question about the Sly movie and about the Terminator movie. I have seen the movie, but I have not seen it as a finished product yet. I have not seen it yet with the Terminator special effects and some of the sound and the music is not in there yet and so on. So I really cannot comment on it, what the movie will be like as a finished product. There's a rule that you never talk about a movie unless you have seen the finished product. But you know as I said to the director when they began that I wish them the best of luck, that I'm happy that they move forward with the franchise, I am very happy with where I am with my profession as the governor and they should try to find a way of doing a story that does not include me at all, not even one single shot in it. I don't believe in that. To kind of have them go out and promote the movie and say you know Arnold is in the movie and everyone thinks that I'm the Terminator and in fact you only see one second of me in there and so I don't think thats the right thing to do. And you know that's the danger of that, and that's why I feel reluctant to be part of the movie in the first place. So it doesn't get promoted that way.

But to talk about Sly's movie you know Sly and I we became very good friends over the last 10, 15 years, especially since the Planet Hollywood days. And we've traveled all around the world. and we've had a terrific time and so he was very helpful to me when I ran for governor. Or with any of the initiatives that were on ballot, he came to fundraising in different places and he was always there to pump up the people and all that. So I... naturally when he asked me if I would do a cameo, which will just be something quick, like I walk out of a hotel or out of a office building and he will walk up and we will bump into each other and there will be some mumbling and then we will walk off (crowd laughs). So it will be something very simple, that will be again, just a cameo, so that's what we're going to do. I promised him I'd do that and I'm looking forward to that. Ok? Good.

So there is a little more insight Arnold gave me on his future with movies. He obviously wants to downplay our expectations by emphasizing these will be very short cameos. With Terminator Salvation, you can tell he is reluctant to be part of it for fear of them using his involvement to promote it, hence why we haven't seen any hint of Arnold in the trailers or promotional materials and McG has been tight lipped (sort of). For the general public seeing it, they should not go in expecting to see Arnold, so when he does show up with the CG effect, it is a surprise and serves as an extra cherry on top of what will hopefully be a great movie. Of course fans like us can't resist the need to know in advance, and in an oblique way Arnold confirmed that he will have some involvement, but may still need to see the final cut to give final approval. The cheers I got made it clear that Arnold's biggest fans want to see it happen!

So there's a big exclusive, but don't worry there's lots more to come, so stick around for more Classic 2009 coverage from TheArnoldFans!

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The Gillinator