On Friday, June 13th, the day after the first domestic press screening of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, I sat comfortably in the Los Angeles Studio Center, ready to interview the Terminator himself: Arnold Schwarzenegger.


Schwarzenegger walked my way and he looked fit, healthy, ballsy, and happy to be alive. After a friendly hello, it was time to get down to Terminator business.

TheArnoldFans: Arnold, your physic is FANTASTIC in T3...

Arnold: "Thank you" (followed by big Austrian grin).

TheArnoldFans: ...Can you tell me if you are currently in that SAME SHAPE or do you like to let go a little bit after a film and then train hard again in preparation for your next movie?

Arnold: (Nods) "I always do that, but I train normally with a half-an- -hour of weights every day and also a half an hour of cardiovascular training a day. Then, when a special project comes up...you never know what the movie is. There are certain movies I need to lose weight where people don't need to look at the muscles first, but rather the character. So you try to lose weight to blend in a little bit better. In other movies you gain weight. For the Terminator, it was extremely important for me because there is a comparison being made. You know, it's the same Terminator. So I need to look the same as 10-12 years ago or 20 years ago. So that's number 1. Number 2, people are going to look at it and they are going to say, 'let's see if he's still got it.' So I want to be sure I satisfy both.

There was more training. 2-3 hours of training a day and dieting. There were many times when I was on the set. At 2 or 3 in the morning and if I had an hour off, I would go to the gym work out and then go back to work again. So any moment that was available for me to hit the weights - I was there."

How did you find playing this Terminator vs. the other two? The first was a cold killing machine and a more humorous in number 2. This one is somewhere in the middle. Arnold: "Well, what we concentrated on besides that was to show what the Terminator was all about. To go from a villain to go to a savior, and then the 3rd one, to add another dimension - to change the Goliath to the David. To make him the vulnerable character. No one would have ever thought the Terminator from Terminator 1 would become a vulnerable character... where you think this character has NO CHANCE. The David and Goliath story. He's the out-dated model and she can produce weapons, she's in command of other machines and she's way advanced... there's no chance. So you feel kind of sorry for him and you start hoping, 'Oh my god, I hope he makes it'...so you start sympathizing and feeling sorry when things happen to him. That was the idea - to add that new flavor. To make him a vulnerable kind of character."

How do you feel T3 will perform with younger crowds? Do you feel it has the same appeal to other big films like LOTRs and The Matrix?

Arnold: "I tell you, my son is 9, the other 5. Even my 9 year old son, I've never shown the Terminator because it's an R rated movie. But he comes to me and he says 'Daddy, tell me about this scene' because someone he ran into told him about it... so he knew the dialogue and all these things. Then he says his friend had it on video. Another has it on DVD. Then it was on television and the thing is, the exposure played one time on television, as you know, is much greater than a movie screen. Television is tremendously powerful. So these movies that I've done have continued playing on television and is out in the video market. I don't think anyone has been left out. As a matter of fact, when Warner Bros. bought the movie, they did a survey and it came back that 100% of the people are looking forward to seeing another Terminator. It was the first time ever. Not 99% but a 100%. That's a staggering number. They ask the movie-goers. They don't ask someone who is 80 years old. The kids and everyone said 'yes, we look forward to seeing another Terminator'. A lot of the kids in school look forward to it as much as the grown ups."


Political aspirations? There's all these rumors weather you will run for Governor...

Arnold: "Well, as long as they are rumors which are healthy. You can make a big impact on people by being elected and a big impact without being elected. As you know Maria's mother started the Special Olympics. There was no one worldwide that had that kind of impact that she had because the Special Olympics is now in 170 countries. It creates equality and tolerance and respect for people with mental retardation. She's done such an unbelievable job. There's no politician that has ever had such an impact on the world that she has had. So I totally understand where she is coming from. But if the time comes, I will talk to Maria about that and we will sort it out. And if we decide not to do it because it would be disruptive...or I might decide to do it and make certain sacrifices."

Will we see "King Conan: Crown of Iron?"

Arnold: "Yes, as soon as they get their things together and go into pre-production, I'm there. I'm ready any time."

Thank you Arnold. Shortly after, I congratulated the Austrian Oak on a movie well done. He obviously had a lot of fun with this project and anticipates it's worldwide release as much as the rest of us.

On my way out to follow Mostow to the elevators, I took some pictures of a few Terminators. TheArnoldFans will be back!

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Randy Jennings