New Arnold Movie In Theaters Early 2007?
Baldwin Narrates Arnold's next Film!

Reported By: TheARNOLDFANS.com Staff
Thursday, November 3, 2006

Three years ago, TheArnoldFans.com was the first to report on the theatrical film called "Pumping Politics" (the earlier working title), a documentary of Arnold's political rise to power. At last we hear more about this film and are given the official new title as well as who will narrate.

The creator of a documentary about California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's entry into politics said on Wednesday he plans to keep Alec Baldwin's narration in the film despite the actor's demand that his voice and name be taken off the picture.

Baldwin made headlines this week when he wrote in an Internet posting that he wanted out of the film "Running with Arnold" because of Nazi imagery that he believed was "unfair" to the Republican governor.

"I am certainly not a supporter of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I think he is unqualified for his current job," Baldwin, a staunch Democrat, said in a blog posted on the Web site of political commentator Arianna Huffington.

"But Schwarzenegger deserves to be treated fairly, and the film's images of Nazi rallies were over the line," he wrote. Baldwin also said his lawyer sent the filmmakers a cease-and-desist letter.

Dan Cox, the veteran entertainment journalist who wrote, produced and directed the film, told Reuters he had no intention of removing Baldwin's voice from the film or dropping his name from the credits as narrator.

"He doesn't have a leg to stand on. We have a contract with him," Cox said, adding that Baldwin was paid $15,000 for his efforts, although the actor said he returned the fee.

Cox said his film, charting Schwarzenegger's transformation from Austrian-born bodybuilder and Hollywood action star to governor, includes some footage from a 1930s Nazi rally.

Schwarzenegger, a major benefactor of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish group that fights anti-Semitism, has long acknowledged his father's wartime past and said he despises everything the Nazis stood for.

Cox concedes that his film offered an "unflattering" portrait of Schwarzenegger but that he had removed "harder-hitting Nazi material" from the final cut.

Cox said even if Baldwin's name were stripped from the credits, "everyone will know that Alec Baldwin was the narrator of this film."

Baldwin wrote that he agreed to narrate the movie, which he did not have time to see beforehand, based on his reading of the script, and that he was "dismayed" by images he saw "when I recorded the tracks."

But Cox said the film was not screened during the recording sessions and that Baldwin raised no objections during the six hours he spent in the studio.

According to Cox, it was not until about two hours after the session that the actor called producers to say he wanted to back out of the project. "I think somebody got to him and said something," Cox said.

Neither Baldwin nor his agent were immediately available for comment. Representatives for Schwarzenegger's office and his reelection campaign declined comment.

Cox said he did not expect his film to be commercially released until well after next Tuesday's elections, in which Schwarzenegger is heavily favored to win a second term. Cox said he hoped to have a distribution deal soon.

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TheARNOLDFANS.com Staff