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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous line “I’ll be back” is almost as famous as Arnold Schwarzenegger — but it nearly never happened!
In an interview published Tuesday withThe Hollywood Reporter, the actor and former California governor recalled how the iconic line from his 1984 sci-fi flickThe Terminator"was an accident."
“[James] Cameronand I were debating how to say the line because I was not comfortable with saying ‘I’ll,’ " Schwarzenegger, 75, recalled of his conversation with the director, who went on to makeTitanicandAvatar. “I said, ‘I think it’s stronger to say, ‘I will be back.’ "
Schwarzenegger said he shot back saying how he told him how to act “every f—— minute!”
Taking a different approach, Cameron explained himself. “Arnold, you think it sounds weird. It doesn’t. What makes it great is that you sound different than me or Charlie over there. That’s what makes it work.”
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He told him “just say it 10 times. Say it different ways. I’ll keep rolling the camera. Then we’ll choose one.”
“So they set it up, and I say: ‘(Flatly) I’ll be back … (cheerful) I’ll be back! … (guttural) I’ll beeee baaaack …’ " Schwarzenegger recounted. “It sounded stupid.”
Fans sure didn’t see it that way. Schwarzenegger’s delivery of “I’ll be back” catapulted the line into the pop culture zeitgeist, where it has remained for nearly four decades. He’s even repeated it (or a version of it) in at least a dozen movies since, includingThe Last Action Hero,Kindergarten Copand his manyTerminatorsequels.
Popularity of the line was nearly instant, Schwarzenegger toldTHR. “The movies comes out. I’m in Central Park. This guy comes up and says, ‘Say the line!’ " he remembered.
In fact, he had been skiing in Aspen just a few days before theTHRinterview, “and the concierge comes up asking me to say the line.”
“So that’s where it started and where it ended up,” Schwarzenegger’s said. “It’s wild.”
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Now the entertainer-turned-politician is literally back — in his new action-comedy series debuting May 25 onNetflix.
In afirst-look teaserdropped in February, the actor showed off his famous muscles while playing a CIA operative whose family gets in the way of his duties.
“Everywhere I go, people ask me when I’m going to do another big action comedy likeTrue Lies,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement about his first scripted live-action role on television. “Well, here it is.FUBARwill kick your ass and make you laugh — and not just for two hours. You get a whole season.”
Inthe trailer, Schwarzenegger playsa cigar-chomping, motorcycle-riding agent named Luke whose exploits prove equal parts thrilling and silly.
Jay Baruchel,Fortune Feimster, Milan Carter,Travis Van Winkle, Gabriel Luna, Andy Buckley, Aparna Brielle, Barbara Eve Harris and Fabiana Udenio also star in the eight-episode series from creator, producer and showrunner Nick Santora.
As forThe Terminatorfranchise, however, Schwarzenneger said in Tuesday’s interview he won’t be back (for now).
“I’m done. I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes toThe Terminator,” he said. “Someone has to come up with a great idea.The Terminatorwas largely responsible for my success, so I will always look at it very fondly. The first three movies were great.”
source: people.com
