A couple of weeks ago TheArnoldFans first informed you of VH1's Arnold mocumentary titled "Arnold Popumentary" and boy was it a hoot! Will VH1 continue with a WEEKLY Arnold series?

Although this one hour special didn't exactly give The Austrian Oak a chance to shine in a positive light (past unmentionable allegations), it did poke fun at the man in other ways where we know Schwarzenegger himself would have been cracking up. No one has a better sense of humor and is able to laugh at himself more than Arnold.

Who could not bust a gut after seeing the black and white flashbacks of Arnold's strict and exaggerated fatherly upbringings or watching Arnold introduce himself to Maria by telling her parents she has "a great ass."

Bradley James, who played Arnold, is another man who gets the humor of The Oak. Just looking at this guy made me laugh - although I'm not sure that's a compliment? His impression of Schwarzenegger is a cross between the real Arnold (Schwarzenegger), a slightly exaggerated one of "MAD TV" (Will Sasso) and everyone's favorite bumbling father of "Maclome in the Middle" (Bryan Cranston).



A couple of days after the program aired, I had to speak with Bradley James, The man who played Arnold in the VH1 special. I had to defend my man Arnold and asked about the occasional negative womanizing portrayal of the script. Apparently, originally it was worse but the writers made a smart move to make it more appealing to Arnold fans.

Bradley James:
The original script was really pointed. The two directors are also writers. They did a lot of rewriting and lightened it up a LOT and added the comedy elements to it. They did a really good job.

TAFs: How did you get the role?

Bradley James:
Interestingly enough, Roland Kickinger (Son of the Beach), who is doing A&E's "See Arnold Run" - he and I are really good friends. We've trained together for years. And originally VH1 and A&E both wanted Roland. They both went into a bidding war over him but A&E had deeper pocket books. So then they went through every bodybuilder in town. Finally my manager, who also is Roland's manager said 'oh, I forgot about Brad! He's the American Arnold and blah, blah, blah.' So when I went into the audition, I never used my real voice. It was just one of those deals where everything fell into place.

TAFs: Is that a natural gap in your teeth or is that fake for the show?

Bradley James:
No, that IS me. The first time it's ever worked out in my favor.

TAFs: Did you watch a lot of Arnold movies to get him down the best you could?

Bradley James:
Yeah, I've always watched them. I'm a HUGE Arnold fan!

TAFs: The accent you gave was one of the better ones I've heard. I had a lot of respect for you not going down the Hanz and Franz path but to sound more like Schwarzenegger himself.

Bradley James:
Yeah, That's one thing I discussed with them to because originally they were going to put me in a muscle suit because Arnold was enormous but it looked too Hanz and Franz-zy. So I talked to the directors and I said I think I look like a cartoon character. So instead they stuffed me in medium T-shirts and the casting around me was small to make me look bigger. I am 240 pounds already.



TAFs: A great line was "eating isn't cheating" because it was used it the show in a random spot as opposed to how it was really rumored to have happened.

Bradley James:
Exactly. That is one of the things we tried to do. Add a lot of those one-liners people are aware of and put it in different context. Like when Barbara (Arnold's early girlfriend) and I were making out and I say "Get down, now!" (when they were about to "do it" on the sofa) and "Come with me if you want to eat" instead of "Come with me if you want to live." It was just a BLAST!

TAFs: It was great. I wish they'd turn this into a weekly series with you playing Arnold more.

Bradley James:
Well actually there's already some talk of that! A lot of people are saying 'what's better than this? A Governor with a family and an imaginary friend.' I'd love it. David and Drew, the directors, are amazing with their writing abilities...and they didn't even take any credit for that! They rewrote the whole script and turned it into something else all together and I'm really glad and fortunate to work with those guys! There was a lot of stuff in there that was improve that they left in there because you can't write that kind of thing. You really have to know Arnold. And I am fortunate that I am a fan and I've seen every movie he's ever done, read his biography and I voted for him and went to some of his campaign fundraisers.

TAFs: Well, I happy to have met such an Arnold fan. I found out about your VH1 show from bodybuilder and wrestler Ric Drasin. He told me about you.

Bradley James:
Yeah, Rick's awesome. I love Rick!

TAFs: Yeah, he's a good guy and is always promoting and looking after his close friends.

Bradley James:
Rick helped me out a lot because he knew Arnold way, way back in the early days. So Rick gave me some photos that only he has to help me out with the hair styles and clothes styles and gave me a lot of stories and personal stuff that he knew about Arnold so I could get the mannerisms. So Rick was probably the best form of research I could have.

TAFs: Have you heard of the band ArnoCorps?

Bradley James:
Ahhh, I wish I would have known about these guys because we could have put some of their music in the film! We could have definitely done that!

TAFs: DAMN, well, maybe the second episode... Or if ArnoCorps does a music video we've got to have you playing Arnold in that as well.

Bradley James:
(Now sounding just like Arnold) Ah, for sure! Fantastic!

I recommend all Arnold fans watch VH1's "Arnold Popumentary" if it comes on again. It is a classic! VH1 could seriously be onto a HUGE hit if they hire Bradley James to reprise his Arnold role in a weekly series. They do need to tone down the negative angles and allegations because they are cheap shots and unnecessary. It is not needed to focus on a couple of bad things that are rumored to have happened when there is so much good material to make fun of...like Junior or Planet Hollywood!

For more info on the VH1 Arnold special and to see addition photos and video clips - click HERE!

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Randy Jennings