Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a guided tour of his many lives in Netflix's 'Arnold'
Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a guided tour of his many lives in Netflix's 'Arnold'
Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen here in the three-part Netflix documentary "Arnold." (Netflix)
The many lives of Arnold Schwarzenegger get neatly divided into three equal parts in “Arnold,” a Netflix documentary-cum-self-led tour through his remarkable success story as bodybuilder, actor and politician, each more improbable than the other. Now acting again (in a series for Netflix, conveniently), Schwarzenegger’s missteps aren’t ignored in the doc, but the emphasis is on how he pursued and achieved his goals, envisioning his stardom before making it a reality.
Spanning the globe from his early home in Thal, Austria to chomping on cigars in his US estates, the docuseries finds time for amusing asides, like Schwarzenegger’s competitive feud in the 1980s with Sylvester Stallone, a rift that became so toxic, Stallone says, they couldn’t be in the same room together.
The two have long since mended those fences, and Stallone speaks fondly of Schwarzenegger now, saying, “We are the last dinosaurs.”
Breezily told by director Lesley Chilcott, “Arnold” starts with Schwarzenegger’s worship of bodybuilder Reg Park, who parlayed that into playing Hercules in sword-and-sandal epics in the 1960s. Schwarzenegger later followed that path, meeting and befriending Park – whose son is among those interviewed – along the way.
Schwarzenegger’s rise included surviving an abusive father, whom he describes as a broken man after World War II, and throwing himself into bodybuilding, winning multiple Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia titles.
Conquering acting came harder, but Schwarzenegger applied the same discipline to that sphere, from his role in “Conan the Barbarian” to “The Terminator,” which – as director James Cameron notes – was initially supposed to feature him as the hero opposite O.J. Simpson.
The real genius move career-wise, though, may have come when Schwarzenegger augmented his action niche by branching into comedies like “Twins,” “Junior” and “Kindergarten Cop,” cementing his status as a box-office draw before his turn into politics, and the related revelations about on-set groping of women for which he eventually apologized.
Schwarzenegger admits he’s uncomfortable discussing his “failures,” as he puts it, among them the fact that he fathered a child with a household employee during his marriage to Maria Shriver. There’s also emotion surrounding his brother, Meinhard, who died in a 1971 car crash, with Schwarzenegger not returning home for his funeral or that of his father.
As for his run for governor in California’s 2003 recall election, Jay Leno remembers being genuinely surprised and perplexed when the actor officially announced his candidacy on “The Tonight Show,” thinking of his broadly popular guest taking the risky leap into politics, “What are you doing?”
Although his ability to weather scandal – and blame the media for covering it – seemingly foreshadowed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, Schwarzenegger became a different kind of Republican in California, advocating for action on climate change and, after a rocky start, finding areas of common ground with Democrats.
Referring to his elder-statesman status now, former chief of staff Susan Kennedy says of the place the 75-year-old Schwarzenegger has come to occupy in speaking out about issues like the climate crisis and public health during Covid, “The world needs him.”
Hardly known for a lack of ego, Schwarzenegger nevertheless balks at the description of him as a “self-made” man, citing all the people who helped him at various stages of his career.
However Schwarzenegger got there, “Arnold” reminds us of his often-surprising and mostly charmed life, failures and all. And while one is tempted to say, “He’ll be back,” the truth is that when it comes to fame, Schwarzenegger hasn’t left the stage, in one field or another, since he first muscled onto it.
Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former U.S. president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of an Alberta woman who was unwilling to be vaccinated in order to get a life-saving organ transplant.
What happens to the brain when you take gravity away? According to a new study looking at astronauts both before and after space travel, that experience causes physical changes that researchers believe requires at least three years between longer missions to recover from.
As wildfires rage across Canada in what’s being called an unprecedented season, one expert says there’s more that individuals and communities can do to adapt and prevent forest fires from causing widespread devastation.
Rescuers in Washington state are praising the resourcefulness of a 10-year-old girl who survived on her own for more than 24 hours in the rugged terrain of the Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family.
Air pollution from wildfires remained well above healthy levels across much of southern and northern Ontario and several communities in British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday.
The hot, dry conditions that are fuelling wildfires countrywide are just the beginning of what summer could look like in Canada this year, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips.
Tumbler Ridge, a community with a population of 2,400 in northeastern B.C., has been ordered to evacuate Thursday due to the danger posed by an encroaching wildfire.
The decision to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women and who will fund it remains up in the air a month after a feasibility study was completed.
A $100 million class action lawsuit launched on behalf of alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Manitoulin Island has been abandoned after the victims reached individual settlements with the church.
No one was harmed when a bus transporting elementary school children to a field trip in B.C. caught fire Thursday, with the flames fully engulfing the coach, spreading to an outbuilding and prompting wildfire concerns.
The federal government is looking at creating some kind of national disaster response agency in the face of an unusually intense and destructive start to the wildfire season across the country.
At least five Africans are dead and dozens believed missing after three boats attempting to carry migrants across the Mediterranean Sea sank in recent days off the coast of the Tunisian city of Sfax, the Tunisian coast guard said Thursday.
Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former U.S. president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
Donald Trump's indictment on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate has brought renewed attention to one of the most notable cases in U.S. Justice Department history.
Embers from a smouldering scrap wood fire set days earlier outside a home used by a Christian religious communal group along with a sparking power line caused a 2021 Colorado wildfire fanned by high winds that destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and left two people dead, authorities said Thursday.
A replacement plane for an Air India flight diverted to Russia because of an engine problem landed in San Francisco on Thursday, carrying all passengers and crew, the airline said.
Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, arrived in the United States from Peru on Thursday to face charges that he attempted to extort money from the missing woman's mother.
As forest fires rage across the country, experts are sounding the alarm over the physical and psychological impacts of the wildfires and saying that they pose a serious public health issue, which individuals and governments need to acknowledge and act upon.
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of an Alberta woman who was unwilling to be vaccinated in order to get a life-saving organ transplant.
What happens to the brain when you take gravity away? According to a new study looking at astronauts both before and after space travel, that experience causes physical changes that researchers believe requires at least three years between longer missions to recover from.
Scientists have documented the first-known instance of a 'virgin birth' by a crocodile, which had been living in isolation for 16 years at Costa Rican zoo, according to a study published Wednesday.
The James Webb Space Telescope set its sights on a galaxy 20 million light-years away, capturing a dazzling star-forming galaxy in images streaked with the signature of passing asteroids.
What happens to the brain when you take gravity away? According to a new study looking at astronauts both before and after space travel, that experience causes physical changes that researchers believe requires at least three years between longer missions to recover from.
A lawyer for Prince Harry finished setting out the royal's case against a newspaper publisher on Thursday, quizzing a former tabloid reporter about information inserted into stories by then-editor Piers Morgan.
The many lives of Arnold Schwarzenegger get neatly divided into three equal parts in 'Arnold,' a Netflix documentary-cum-self-led tour through his remarkable success story as bodybuilder, actor and politician, each more improbable than the other.
Parents are finding it tougher than ever to save for their children's post-secondary education, but the mainstays of post-secondary saving remain key tools, as do clear goals and plenty of planning.
Irving Oil says it’s undertaking a “strategic review” with an eye to its future. In a release Wednesday, the company says it’s looking at a number of options, including the sale of its assets.
Rescuers in Washington state are praising the resourcefulness of a 10-year-old girl who survived on her own for more than 24 hours in the rugged terrain of the Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family.
Bret Hart's longtime connection with the late Iron Sheik was first made in the early 1970s when an Iranian amateur wrestler -- real name Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri -- came to Calgary to learn from promoter Stu Hart.
Racing at Belmont Park was cancelled and the Washington Nationals' home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks was postponed Thursday due to poor air quality from wildfires in Canada.
A group of climate activists claimed responsibility on Wednesday for deflating the tires of sport utility vehicles in Denmark's capital. More than 100 vehicles were vandalized, police said.
Insurance industry group Equite Association says vehicle theft in multiple provinces surged last year. Vehicle theft was up by 50 per cent in Quebec year over year, by 48.3 per cent in Ontario, by 34.5 per cent in Atlantic Canada and by 18.3 per cent in Alberta.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen here in the three-part Netflix documentary "Arnold." (Netflix)
