A conversation with... Arnold Schwarzenegger – Zurich Film Festival

zhu-li the guests dear guests it's time to get ready please welcome and I can a legend a superstar mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger okay thank you Wow standing ovations before the interview has started obviously all bodybuilding champions mr. Schwarzenegger Rocco says it's just leverage to say it's very nice to be in Zurich I just came from Spain where we had the Arnold Classic world bodybuilding championships and the international sports and fitness festival because I'm still on my 45 year fitness crusade to make everyone in the world healthy and fit and then I went from the other Brock family shooting a commercial right now for a video game and then a visitor just nine away over here an old friend of mine who is 93 and was a mentor of mine in Graz in Austria and now it's great to be in suruc which is a town that they're loved I love Switzerland I've come here of course many times having lived right next door in Austria from for 19 years and it's nice to be back again the last time I was here said I'll be back so I'm back I'm out it's great to have him zergs thank you so much for coming to Zurich and you just mention it I mean you are very very successful in business in movies you've been in politics would you say that's a secret to your success and how would you define it well I would say that you know there's obviously a lot of things that are very important in order to be successful especially in our business in a movie business I think the most important thing is that you have to have a very clear vision that you want to be an actor you want to be in the movies that you have to feel very passionate about it and you also have to have the ability to ignore the naysayers because inevitably every single thing that I've done in my life people always said to me that's impossible so I don't know if I just said very high goals or what it was but when I wanted to be a bodybuilding champion and that was 15 years old in Austria they said you're crazy I mean you can be a bicycle champion or a soccer champion or a ski champion but not a bodybuilding champion that's an American sport you're crazy I mean I said I want to go to America they thought that was crazy and it would never happen I don't have the money and all those things and then it meant I wanted to get into motion pictures into movies and be a leading man they also said that I'm crazy it would never happen they said you know you have an accent and no one in America ever made it with an accent people wanted to hear actors talk like John Wayne or like Clint Eastwood but not like with a German accent we maybe can get you some parts as a Nazi officer or something like that but definitely not to be you know a leading man and of course your body is I would develop them and you weigh 250 pounds I mean you know now this is the 70s I mean this is the the the the age of our Pacino he weighs 150 pounds he's a little guy Dustin Hoffman he's big superstar he's a little guy Oh Woody Allen here's another sex symbol of the seventies so here's a little guy so this is you look at this you look like a monster it's impossible so everything was always impossible and then you can imagine what happened when I ran for governor you know the thought are you out of your mind I mean you're an actor he cannot get into politics that's impossible but I always believed of what Mandela said he always said everything seems to be impossible until someone does it and so I felt like what I can be the one that does new groundbreaking things and and do the impossible and make it possible and so that's exactly what I've done all my life whenever people said it's impossible I made it possible and have proven that it can be possible and so I think that's another very important thing is in order to make it easy if to just ignore the naysayers and then also you have to be able to work your ass off I mean you got to go in there and work work work there's no shortcut to work and so I've worked always very hard if it's in body building you know five six hours of training a day even when it then went into movies you know to work on your English and and your acting and your accent remove for speech and voice and all of those kind of things I spent hours and hours every day even though I was still working out and training for bodybuilding competitions but I went at night a lot of times to acting classes from aid attack to 12:00 midnight and so it was always a lot of work was involved so this is the kind of principles that I have always had and it really got me to where I am today and always was I was very positive I always had a great time I'm very fortunate that everything I've ever done in my life and I have made a lot of money doing it but I would have done it for no money in the end because everything that I've done I always it was very passionate and I love doing it it would have been also my hobby at the same time I loved working out and competing in bodybuilding love doing movies being on a set and acting out different characters and and and being involved if it's action movies of it's comedies of it Sam Sam was serious a character role and I loved you know politics to be a public sir and to serve 38 million people in California and to get that trust in to vote for you not only once but twice to get reelected again with a huge majority I mean this were really really great great moments and I loved every minute of it even though it was hard hard work so I always enjoy everything that they do and just as much as I'm sitting here today in front of you I don't look at this as a job I don't it's not like an effort that I have to make I really was looking forward to coming over here from Prague and to have this discussion with all of you that brings me to topic because you brought a movie to the Zurich Film Festival called Maggie and we know that you do not need to prove anything to anyone nowadays but this movie is very special because it shows the complete different side of you as an actor why did you say yes to this project and why is it important to you you know I just read this story and I think that maybe 25 years ago it wouldn't have meant anything to mean but now having been a parent myself for the last 25 years and when I read it and I read this this drama that this father goes through that his daughter is you know caught this zombie virus that disorder with the world and is destroying people all over the world and it is this slow death and it's inevitable no one can save a human being but it gets caught with that virus and you know I had I was myself so sad when I read it because I said it visualizing my daughter having either one of my children having dead illness and what this must be like for a father to go through or for a parent to go through that it really had such an effect on me that I even though you know my agent said look they have no money it's a budget six million dollars which is less than Terminator one Mary mind you because there was six and a half million dollars in 1984 it was very small budget and terminate but this one now we're talking about now 30 years later you know is six million dollars so as you can see this is a very very low-budget movie and and but I said it's irrelevant it's not about the money even if they don't pay me anything I would like to play this character it's very interesting a movie great story and the director Henry Hobson was an interesting very visual kind of a director and so I wanted to do the movie and I was very happy that it did it was not so much of proving anything it was more like there's a part of me in there that has never been able to act that out in front of a camera as much as there was never a time where I had to change to really be funny in front of the camera and Toby did twins to do a comedy so it was not to prove that I can do a comedy but it just says Isetta myself I have a funny side in me and I want to be able to shout it in the screen because when you get typecast which is what happens in movies you get typecast and we all then get kind of put in a slot and so people started seeing studio executives started seeing that they make a lot of money with me with action movies so they said why would we switch out with a comedy when we make hundreds of millions of dollars every movie that this guy does with action movies so it was impossible to go and switch over to comedy until I met Ivan Reitman the director who did ghostbusters who gave me ten the chance and again I said I take no money I take a big back back end but no money and so that's exactly what we did and we ended up making more money than any other movie I've ever made because of twins because of the big back end that we hadn't you know big ownership so you know a lot of times you have to kind of really try hard to break through those things people just don't like to see normally in the Arnold - anything else but an action movie well cleaned eastwood as far as there goes a John Wayne he would not see John Wayne in an alibi Allen movie you know to play that kind of a character you know you know or Charles Bronson to be in the love story so this is the that's not what has happened you know people just put you in a certain category that's what they let you play getting back to Maggie cuz it has anyone seen Maggie yet a couple of people okay cool because that's a scene where you start crying and I I mean a lot of critics were completely blown away because they never expected you to be able to do that in a way in that movie and it was brilliant was that really difficult for you or was it something as you've been saying it that just came out because it was there all the time but it never had the chance to come out I almost felt like crying when I read the script to be honest with you I mean it was so sad and so powerful the way it was written so I felt like you know I had no concerns so when the moment came and those sad stories and every act that those said kind of part out it became it was natural because I visualized like I said you know what it would be like in real life and that's what you do in acting you try not to act sad but you try to put yourself into this situation so did in fact are sad and so that's what I was I was really sad and you know and you do those scenes a window and it makes you your kind of emotions very raw and so then it just unfolds and so if you have a good director that guides you through it which directors you know if they're good they are also partially like a psychiatrist in that they know how to play with your mind and how to warm you up and how to get you there and so Henry Hobson was very good and very trusting in this area and so I didn't feel that it was too difficult because I didn't really act I was very upset and now you're happy as you've been saying it because you like the way that you live your life and you've been very determined about your career how would you say where does the determination come from in your youth I mean it was at a point where you basically said listen I need to change something and this is what I need to do I need to focus I need to work hard because it hasn't been easy in your youth no no it hasn't been but I think that I learned a lot of things from sports I think there's nothing like learning from sports that's why I always believe that we need to let our children do as much sports as possible because I mean there's no better place we can learn about hard work because in sports only if you really train hard you can get better and only when you really really train hard hours and hours that they can you become a local champion or a national champion one international champion it's the harder you work that's where the action is and the discipline you know that in sports that if you just don't do your training one day and then the next day again you don't and then you slack off it's a it's not gonna happen and the same is also in work it's exactly the same thing so I think they'd have learned a lot of my messages that were good for life from sports and it really helped me always to be very determined and like I said to visualize you goal and then you have a great joy to go after it and I always operated really well when there was a struggle behind it and when people thought it was impossible you know that motivated me and give me that extra kind of a motivation and it's fun I think that that's the difference between living and existing you know some people just like to slide easy and to go to work and to the regular thing and when they work eight hours a day they feel like wow I did an incredible job it's so nonsense you know minutes late we have 24 hours a day and if you work eight hours or 10 hours let's say you started 14 hours left so what you're doing is 14 hours then you go in sleep or let's say you sleep six hours they know there's some of you in here this inner world over wait a minute I sleep eight hours I would recommend you should sleep a little faster use six six hours six hours is enough and to sleep six hours so as you can see then you still have eight hours left right or six hours you mean you you you have so much time left if you really space it out it's so to me it was all about using the 24 hours as wisely as possible as fully as possible and I'm a big believer also that we should spend every day a certain amount of time on asking ourselves what can I do for others because I think that it's great to work on your own career and it's great to make a lot of money and it's great to be successful but what about other people they may be another successful they maybe don't have the talent they maybe that did not have the upbringing that motivated them they may be a handicapped they may be intellectually challenged like Special Olympians I was have been the trainer for Special Olympians for decades were creating after-school programs for underprivileged kids and now of course we became a hip thing and now a lot of kids go there after school programs because parents are working and so there's no one home when they get home after school or you know running for governor I mean all of those things I think we all have a certain obligation to give something back to our community and to our country because there's a lot of people didn't need help and so we got to jump in there and provides that help so that's a part of our daily work I think besides doing something for yourself too something also for others was that why on earth you were focusing on a lot of environmental issues as a governor as well in California because you said you need to spend your time wisely you need to be influential you need to do something because as you've been saying it it's hip to do something nowadays but you did it as a governor of California yeah I think that that's why ran and I remember when I ran for governor people came up to me and said have you ever thought about that you're gonna miss out and making twenty or forty million dollars a year either was making twenty thirty million dollars a movie so I said you're gonna miss out on that money don't you miss that and they said no not at all because I said without America I wouldn't be in a situation where I make that money in the first place says that America gave me the opportunity America welcomed me with open arms America has shown tremendous generosity so I cannot just take as an immigrant just take take and take and not give something back so I said I'm totally committed I can do a better job than those politicians because they have a lot of experience maybe but there's not the will you know a lot of those politicians I found out I all servants to their party their party sermons but they're not public servants there's a big difference between being a public servants where you do what is right for the people versus a party servant that is doing what is right for their party in relevant of it's good for the people or not and so I feel that the we have not only in America but all over the world it's a lot of party servants but not public servants and so I wanted to be a really good public servant that is a Republican that is a conservative but when I see an idea that doesn't appear to be conservative and it's good I will still go for that it makes a difference to me I just wanted to be fiscally conservative and to have principles of where we don't spend more money than we take in and they've delivered in our means and so on so but we have to go and provide great after-school programs great education we got to go and protect the environment we get the fight for making sure that we win that battle and reduce the greenhouse gases around the world because not just because of global warming everyone talks about global warming which is all true but what about what's happening today with the pollution we're killing seven million people a year in the world every year 7 million because of our pollution it's unacceptable I think we can do better than that so even though there's some that argue is it true is this science in now but global warming not well it is in but let's assume we argue that point the real issue is how many people we kill every day and it's much more than through Wars much more than through traffic accidents through homicides suicides all of those numbers together don't even come close to that 7 million they'd be killed with pollution greenhouse gas this particular matter all of those things - they're in the air is horrible for our health for our lungs for heart and it causes cancer it causes unbelievable illnesses and it kills people prematurely thinking about what you just said about politicians nowadays what do you think of the presidential race at the moment and their us well it says circuits it's a circus and you know it's it's very entertaining at this point and I think that we have not seen yet the Democratic debates amongst the Democrats only the Republicans and but it's very early to really comment on who is going to win because the positions are going to change Donald Trump will be up and then it will be down and someone else will be up and someone else will be down and so this is how it's gonna be a rollercoaster ride I think that the action really starts next spring and I note that for Europeans it doesn't make much sense the whole thing because you know in Europe you have elections like their campaigns for six weeks and then it's over we have it like for two years I think it sells more ads on television this way and also the televisions love it because they have things to report and there each of the network's get that debates to organize the debates so they all work it out amongst themselves one time at CNN debate and it's a Fox debate then it would be an MPC debate there will be an ABC debate and everyone will get this year and they all can get their Millions millions of viewers ships know of those things but I hope out of this comes you know a great candidate someone that will break through the gridlock that is going on in Washington because right now that much is getting done Democrats whenever they have an idea the Republicans shut it down when the Republicans have an idea that Democrats will shut it down so no one is working together and sadly we don't have to leadership there that really can bring both of the parties together and really you know do something that is good for the country and there's a lot of issues that we need to address you know from immigration reform to environmental issues to you know paying off the debt if a 18 trillion dollars debt now in America which is unacceptable there's you know all kinds of issues that need to be addressed infrastructure is falling apart and it's slowly deteriorating in America we need to rebuild the infrastructure like we did in the 40s 50s and 60s you know after the Second World War we won this whole spin about rebuilding we need to do that again in America so there's a lot of very important issues so I hope a candidate will come out of all of this that will be able to bring the parties together bring everyone together and do something that's really good for the country so let's wait for spring 2016 it's time for questions from the audience who has a question the gentleman all the way in the back there with a black exactly wait for the microphone I think we have fun hopefully okay go ahead hello I'm a film fan and not part of the industry and I wondered if you as part of the industry can still enjoy films like an outsider or you just look at them from a commercial point of view and I wondered what are a couple of your favorite ever films well I think that even though you make movies and you see how they're put together how they're edited and how the visual effects are done and the music and and all that and how before you start shooting the story parts are laid out and how this whole thing the process works I still enjoy movies and love them I think like for instance just recently I saw sender trayers and I was like I was just like blown away but the visual effects and it was such a such a great story and you know the rock Dwayne Johnson is such a fantastic entertain and not only in the ring as a wrestler but also as an actor he has done really well and we know because there was four where there was a while where people were saying you know where the next action heroes you know what happened here you know that people still have to go and asks what's nagging Bruce Willis and Stallone to do action movies you know they're almost going to be 70 and which is true but I mean but I'm still having fun doing the action movies Mary mind here but they know where's the next generation but you know the rock is the next generation I think he's a fantastic action hero and he is in I really enjoyed him in this movie send Andreas because it was just really a very well made and a very entertaining movie so III enjoy things or you know when I think about taken with Liam Neeson you know I love those action movies I mean they're really entertaining they're fun he is a terrific actor the directors are really good in this movie so they're very unsure but so I still watch this kind of movies and also other movies you know so I watch all kinds of movies sometimes they have appeared to some other people may be slow or there or there may be a great comedy or something so I still love watching movies any more questions from that side all the way in the back the gentleman yeah exactly that my name is Alexei no Mookie and if I dismiss Argan VMFS combines on namely we own the Bayern with the highest in our area once he must be out and Vienna schnitzel now and Maggie Adam sees another angle on a bohemian Invicta Maxie I couldn't at first Rudi the chili chili on don't local natural liquid plateless went mine defrag is well ads yes on an important meeting moment in the human turns off when I know and happy it's also began Tinian also owned by me gap so wished him to momenta for mentioned some ago gangs and police to Lightning a gang Bend yeah Miami aapke visa nor Anita a visa by booster and am Bishnu moment so can see fight again oh gee I make is like yeah spot also about kappa super shrimp the memento for China teen CMOS no that's all only the up key is not orders exact Tom science or can't stick fight again it must act as I know it's a it is a hundred man comma garden engaged also kapustin be sluicin momenta yeah I just said earlier I yeah I heard no or the nine this is murky I heard that all the time but they didn't listen so that's why I said one of the rules to success is not to listen to the naysayers because you know you will see people that are not really used to unusual performances that they would not die in they would say it's impossible you know sir but it doesn't mean that they treat you badly I didn't feel like someone treated me badly they just didn't believe in me my own parents didn't believe in me I mean my mother was concerned all the time that I was crazy or was something else my mother brought our house doctor home because she was concerned that above my bed on the wall there were pictures of naked men they were not really naked that were body building champions boxers or great athletes but she called the doctor and said doctor look at this my son is having on a wall naked man and all of his friends have on their wall women should I be concerned and the doctor finally calmed it down and explained to her there's nothing wrong with his son he just idolizes this man and I think that's good at his age to idolize and then to work harder so don't worry about it and then my mother finally was kind of relieved that there was no turning in the strange direction according to her views and so those things happen all the time my father said to me this is why you're training your muscles go out and chop wood do something for people be useful then you will get your muscles not with these weights and in front of the mirror and idolizing yourself and all so he went crazy and that so you know it's very hard on the beginning to convince people that you're really serious and that you are going to make it so you know I I don't think that you should be concerned and then the end when someone treats you bad the best revenge is success remember that that's it there was a question over there from the analyst or the blonde haired lady that blonde haired lady over that yeah exactly you microphone is coming magazine for mr. Schwarzenegger you are going to attend the climate change conference in understand and I would like to know what is your message thank you the conference in Paris well you know I think that my message is as I said earlier that the nations have to come together for the greater good of the world in order to reduce and to make a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases because we considered it effects it has and also that the health aspect that I talked about so my idea of really moving forward we didn't be more successful is by including sub-national governments because they are all dealing with national governments to come to deal as national governments so that all of the countries come to an agreement and to agree to reduce the greenhouse gases but they should not forget sub-national governments because remember when I was governor of California we had enacted and we had really enforced the most the toughest environmental laws in the United States but no help from Washington some ethic Washington fought us and every step of the way Washington even said that we cannot regulate our own air in California because greenhouse gases is not a pollutant and we had to take Washington the federal government to court and fight in court and we won the first court battle then him into a higher court we want that a battle went there higher court all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States and finally the Supreme Court of the United States also said yes greenhouse gases pollutant and California has the right to regulate its own air and its own pollution so I said to myself can you imagine it has to go to the Supreme Court for those idiots in Washington to recognize the greenhouse gases as a pollutant I could have tied into an exhaust pipe each one of them with their mouths strapped to the exhaust pipe turn on the ancient for 10 minutes I guarantee they would have agreed right away that is an air pollutant so you know so we in California have independently of Washington independently of the federal government we have moved forward and have made great progress where we made a commitment to rollback the greenhouse gases for 25 percent by the year 2020 and an additional 85 percent by the year 2050 and we also have renewable energy now 35 percent by the year 2020 we will have close to 50% of renewable energy and we did this all by ourselves as a SAP national government as the state of California so what I'm saying is is they should also simultaneously as they're trying to get all the national governments together to get the sub-national governments together because most of the action 70% of the reduction of greenhouse gases will come from sap national governments and not from national so this is why I think it's very important to add that and they are so we have had a great relationship I've had a great relationship with the French you know president Hollande who has been a real great leader in that area and he may be successful so I try to do everything I can so that he and the international community is successful so I will be there with the r20 with our environmental organization that deals with sub-national governments and I will be trying to rally everyone up to go and make a deal and to make a commitment to reducing greenhouse gases so because we have the responsibility to make this about the world and to you know a hand this world are way better shape than the way we inherited it okay the question from the lady and I'm right next you can yeah read that with the glasses making movies as an actor is one thing but what about writing movies or directing them you have like two directional credits on the Internet Movie Database would you direct again and maybe write also the script because you have a lot of experience as a governor as a bodybuilder so in different fields and different carriers so to put all together and they make a movie about all these experience you may see me again as it director yes I did enjoy directing but I have absolutely no patience for writing you know when I when I look at the riders and they sit down the desk on their computer and they're right and they're right and they're right and I just shake my head and I said I don't know how you guys do it and so you know every day I have written seven books and each one of those books I have most of it dictated and worked with the co-writer because there's people that are really trained and that and that have really good writers I'm not one of them I can tell a good story I can tell you everything that I know and I can sit down and make notes and write notes and to write my thoughts down that this would have done always with order books but in the end it was always someone else that really helped me with the writing and so I you won't see a Schwarzenegger script I can guarantee you even if I lived 150 years of age it won't happen okay thank you the gentleman with the hat right there okay Dustin let's move on good night Nick so yeah and I always exactly like you said everybody told me you're crazy it's not impossible because nobody actually ever did it and that's not true one person who did that's you but it's one from coming from a small country in Europe and so you started with sports I not but I instead I made a short film that went to him festivals I did a campaign for he started I made a million dollars I met oscar-winning producers were interested in many projects and just like he said I was my computer and I wrote and I wrote a lot of screenplays one of them is attracted some attention but it all depends on who I cast and I did write the part for you it's true actually adapted it because when I wrote it you were not doing movies and it was a small apartment now it's different and I think it's it fits you very well but it's unlike anything you've done before and the only way you can actually read it is if I give it to you personally so I'm very sorry to put you on the spot but I like to know it please give it to you well you can give it to me as my assistant is right here Daniel can you take it now right here thank you thank you very much first of all let me just say to you that congratulations that you have made that step and if done a short movie congratulations and writing script after script and come up with stories and again I have to say to you don't ever be shy and asking anyone to be in your movie because there's so many directors that I've met in the past that said well I didn't want to get in touch with your agency because I didn't want to be shot down and in our myself they would never give my message to you in order don't believe in that I mean there was a young kid that came up with the United States he's I think from Sweden right the cash flow the guided King fury account fury your kung fury have you ever heard of that yes kung fu yeah so anyway I see this on internet and heat and showed me also a DVD and I was so impressed but what I saw this is a young kid so I called him and I said them I said look I heard about you from my agent and let's get together for lunch say met him for lunch and the entire lunch he was just sitting there and looking at me like this so so tell me about the way you made this movie so I said what can we talk so anyway he just finally shook his head and said to me I can't believe that I'm sitting here with you and I said well I said you know I want to congratulate it because I said you listed the boss to go out and just say even though you're young kid you just have done this 30 minute kind of little short thing this was crazy in a kung fu er I mean it totally crazy there but it looked great and now Spielberg is going to produce his movie he's going to make it into a big motion picture that idea of king fury and and he asked me if I want to be in the film and I said them yes of course I would have been a film I said even though it's a little movie or maybe you don't have much money I said but this is a great idea it's a great concept so the bottom line is it doesn't matter how little you are physically Oh from what what little of a country you come from or how young you are absolutely none of this matters because in the end the only thing that matters is talent if you have talent and you know of course in order for people to discover you got to do it over and over and show them and show them and push and push and get it out there and have it introduced in film festivals but you will do it you know the end talent we're always penetrate through and people would eventually see it so just keep going keep going you are a winner keep going okay let's talk about your future movies there a couple of projects sort of on the horizon tell us about Conan about triplets and I read the toxic avenger maybe well there's a lot of projects another one that's that we are talking about that most likely is the next film I will do which is his small independent film because I just you know Afghan Terminator which was a big film but it's a four seven eight it's a movie about the airplane crash with the two planes crashing over the boat and say which was many years ago and it's based on and that true story but the movie is not exactly the way that story unfolded but it's a it's a fantastic story in a very dramatic piece and then of course like you said Conan is another one of those things that is being developed right now and fine-tuned and it could happen you know they'd be shoot it next year and triplets is something that I have wanted to do in a as a sequel to twins with Eddie Murphy and with Danny DeVito where Eddie Murphy is kind of the third brother that comes out of nowhere and and so it's it's it's a it's again there's a script that has been written and that is now being fine-tuned but Eddie Murphy loves the idea we've gotten together several times with him at the bit Danny and you know we all of their ideas it's just a really a matter of getting the script right so that it is on the same level as the first movie was because that's the key thing not to just live off a name of a movie but to really do a great job with that and to make it funny so when people see the poster alone like in the first one think they'll start laughing about it and in them in to see the movie they really come out and say about this is this one of the funniest things I've ever seen so that's the important thing and that's why I think fine-tuning it is really the most important thing honored thank you so much for coming to Zurich unfortunately we ran out of time it's been a pleasure to have you ladies and gentlemen to grade on our charts never

Channel: ZFF Zurich Film Festival

Views: 63,540

Rating: 4.9003558 out of 5

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Id: O5lCiuL4ra4

Length: 43min 15sec (2595 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 02 2015