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[MUSIC PLAYING]
MALE SPEAKER: Our guest today grew up in a small farming
village in Austria.
And he turned himself into a bodybuilder who was the
youngest Mr. Universe ever.
But he wanted more than that, so he made himself one of the
biggest movie stars of the '80s and '90s.
He still wanted more than that, so he decided to become
governor of California.
And apparently none of that was enough, because he's just
now written a book about it all called "Total Recall."
Ladies and gentleman, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
[APPLAUSE]
MALE SPEAKER: So you talk a lot in the book about this
lake near where you were born.
It sounds very idyllic.
You spent your summers there, you started body building
there, and it's also where you proposed to Maria Shriver?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: That's right.
We went back in 1985 and I proposed to her on the lake.
We went out on with the rowing boat and I
proposed to her there.
And I told her that if she says no,
it's a very deep lake.
And so she was delighted to say yes.
It was a lake where in the winter they had wonderful
motorcycle races on the ice on the lake.
They had ice curling champions.
We had ice skating around the whole lake, and it was wide
open to go ice skating.
So it was really a beautiful, wonderful place to grow up at
a place like this that is literally five
minutes from my house.
MALE SPEAKER: And you mentioned getting into body
building, which turned out to be your ticket out of Austria
and into world fame.
What's really interesting about the book is that I think
a lot of people fantasize about being famous and having
an impact on the world.
For you, it seemed less like dreaming and more like a
premonition.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, it was a dream.
But it was also--
I felt like it was the only way to get out of Austria
because I had this need of coming to America.
I mean, when I started learning about America at the
age of 10 because of geography lessons and
learned about America--
And so the first photographs I remember in this textbook, but
also in Super 8 millimeter film footage that they showed
in the classroom--
you know, about the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire
State Building and the six-lane highways.
I said, what am I doing here in Austria with
these little roads?
I want to go and I want to be part of the big deal.
And so I had always this desire that felt like the only
way ever I would get to America, because in those days
it wasn't common that you buy yourself a ticket, no one
could afford that.
So I had to accomplish something big
that takes me to America.
And then when I read about this guy Reg Park who won Mr.
Universe three times and then became a star in "Hercules"
movies, and then was in Italy filming, and then in Hollywood
filming, I felt that could be the ticket.
I should become Mr. Universe, I should become
a second Reg Park.
Of course, no one really bought into that.
My parents thought I was totally . insane.
And I remember that I hung up pictures above my bed for
inspiration--
pictures of Reg Park in his posing trunks and all that.
And my mother was so concerned, she called the
local doctor and she had him analyze the wall.
Because she thought that there's something terribly
wrong that I have naked men above my bed and all of my
buddies had women hanging above their bed and so she was
concerned about that.
But I think that my parents really thought that there was
something terribly wrong of being that driven.
Because I would come home at lunchtime and instead of
having lunch, I would do 200 sit-ups.
And at night, I will go to the stadium and I
will be lifting weights.
I will come home at 10:00 at night and I be continually
lifting weights.
So it was like one of these insanity in the military, I
will continue lifting weights.
No matter how the training was and how tough the basic
training was, I would always then lift weights afterwards.
And as a tank driver would have on the side of the tank
in the toolbox, I would have my weights, my barbells, my
dumbbells, and my exercise bench, and everything there.
In order to be, at any given time, if we stopped driving
the tank and maneuvers.
At 2:00 in the morning, I will be able to pull out my weights
and again lift for two hours my weights.
I was really a fanatic about the whole thing.
But it's the only way you really
get the way I succeeded.
Because I became at the age of 20 the youngest Mr. Universe
in London in the history of bodybuilding.
Because the youngest before then was Reg Park, the guy I
was talking about, at the age of 24.
But I became the youngest at 20, but it was because I was
so serious about the whole thing.
And it worked, by the age of 21, after I won my second Mr.
Universe title, I got an invitation from Joe Weider who
was the publisher of all the muscle magazines in America
and also the person that had the biggest warehouses of
weight training equipment, and had food supplement companies
and all this.
And he brought me to America, and so there I was.
Six years after my dream started, I was in America.
And I was training right here, not far away from here on
Pacific Avenue at Gold's Gym.
Now Gold's Gym is on the other side, over here
in this huge gym.
But then it was only like a 5,000 square foot place, and
all the top bodybuilders from around the
world trained there.
So I was able to come over and train right there
with the top champions.
This was the mecca of bodybuilding then already.
And I said in Hollywood that I wanted to be a leading man,
everyone laughed.
Because they said wait a minute, with your body, are
you out of your mind?
Look at the way you look--
250 pounds, you look like a monster.
I mean, what kind of actress will want to work with you?
And "Hercules" movies were in 20 years ago.
But now it's people like Dustin Huffman, Al Pacino,
little guys.
I mean, *** Allen--
those are the new sex symbols, not you.
I mean, look at your body.
And so they said you would never make it.
And then your name, Schwartzenschnitzel or
whatever the name is, it would never happen.
And with your accent, it's so thick you could use a sword
and cut through that accent.
So it was a negative attitude right off the top, even though
America's normally a positive place.
But they looked at me they said, no,
it will never happen.
So I kind of worked my way up with pure will and force.
Again, I saw very clearly the vision that I could be another
Clint Eastwood, or Charles Bronson, or Warren Beatty, or
any of those guys.
And they always said the ladder is empty up there.
There's three guys that can be on top.
And I said, well, if it's empty, then there's room for
another one and so I was determined.
And by 1975, I remember that Bob Rafelson who did "Five
Easy Pieces" and "Easy Rider" and those
movies with Jack Nicholson.
He came to me and says, I want to do the movie "Stay Hungry."
And I want you and Sally Fields and Jeff Bridges star
in the movie.
I said to myself, man, with this director, I have it made.
And right after that we did "Pumping Iron." And right
after that we did "Streets of San Francisco," guest starred.
And then "The Villain" with Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret.
And then Ed Pressman came to me and said, I just bought the
"Conan" rights from the Robert E Howard Estate, and I'm going
to do "Conan." And I'm going to lock you in for five movies
to do "Conan the Barbarian," and "Conan the Destroyer," and
"King Conan" and all those movies.
And I signed the deal with him.
So I had it made.
I mean, there I was in 1980 doing "Conan the Barbarian"
with Universal Studios.
Dino De Laurentiis producing, Ed Pressman producing, Oliver
Stone has written the script, and John Milius rewrote the
script and then directed it.
So my plan worked again.
It was really amazing that there was $250,000 I got for
the first move, the next one $1 million.
And from then on it went very quickly, $5 million a movie,
$10 million a movie, $15 million.
And in the end I got $30 million a movie.
And I was laughing-- you know, there's a saying, he who
laughs the last, laughs the best?
Well, I was laughing the last.
Because every one of the schmucks that said you'll
never make it, they were looking as if, wait a minute,
what happened here?
We thought that we knew the business, but they didn't.
So there is always room for something a little bit odd and
extraordinary.
MALE SPEAKER: There's another great story in the book where
you had an early meeting with Dino De Laurentiis and it
didn't go so well.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, that was different because
Dino De Laurentiis had an office and he wanted me to be
in "Doc Savage." And he wanted me to play the villain in "Doc
Savage." And I walked in, and I always kind of have a mouth
that sometimes goes a little bit too fast
and I step on myself.
I walked into the office and I saw Dino
standing behind his desk.
And it was this huge desk, ornate, gold and kind of like
French looking or Italian looking, I don't know what.
But it was gigantic, it was one of those partner desks.
And Dino, the only thing that stood out was his chest and
his head because he's a little guy.
Dino's a really short guy.
So I walked into his office and I looked and I said hi,
Dino, why does a little guy like you need such a big desk?
And to Dino De Laurentiis you never say, you're little.
Because he saw himself as a giant.
So he looked at me and he says, ah, Schwarzenegger, you
have an accent, I cannot use you, ah.
And I said, again, stupidly, who is talking
about having an accent?
I mean, listen to you.
Ah, are you a Nazi?
Ah!
He walked away because I had a German accent.
So that was the end of that.
So I left the office and my agent came up to me.
He grabbed me really forcefully by my arm and he
said to me, I've been an agent for 15 years.
This meeting was exactly one minute and 14 seconds.
It was the shortest meeting we've ever had.
You just *** everything up.
God damn it, it took me months to get in here.
So he was mad at me also.
So anyways, that's how the relationship
started with Dino.
But then when he bought Conan, he came to Spain
where we were shooting.
And the third day of filming after he saw the dailies, the
footage that we had filmed, he came up to me and he said,
hey, Schwarzenegger, you are Conan, ah.
And he walked off.
And Milius came to me, the director, and he says, this is
the greatest compliment that you can ever get.
He said, you're Conan, isn't that great?
And I said, I guess so.
And from that point on, we created this really great
relationship.
And we did movies together and "The Raw Deal" and then "Red
Sonja" and "Conan the Destroyer" and "Conan the
Barbarian."
And he became kind of like a father figure.
He became kind of the Reg Park that I had in the bodybuilding
world and Joe Weider, he became that character in the
movie world that I could go to for anything.
Who would give me advice.
Who always had wonderful compliments and kind of took
me in as part of his family.
And so that's why I always will miss him very dearly
after he passed away.
MALE SPEAKER: One of the interesting things in the book
is just the way people were dismissing you when you wanted
to be a movie star, then you decide you
want to get into politics.
And there's a great story about meeting with Karl Rove,
and Karl Rove kind of dismissing you.
So tell us about that.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: I have to say, I always loved it when
people looked at me and felt like he will never be able to
pull it off.
And kind of short-changed me in a way.
Because then the expectations are low and then you surprise
people when you do pull it off.
So Karl Rove, who I'm sure everyone knows, is the expert
and was kind of single-handedly responsible
for getting George Bush elected.
Masterminding and mapping out the whole strategy for the
United States.
Every single state, what state they had to win, what state
they could afford losing and on and on and on.
He was like the mastermind behind it.
And he was then, George Bush now was elected, this was
2003, and we were back in Washington to do a White House
summit on after school programs.
Which the president believed in very strongly, and everyone
on his staff, including Karl Rove.
And then afterwards, I went over because after school
programs always has been my passion and we have our own
programs nationwide, they're our foundation and
organization.
And afterwards, I went over to the White House to just say,
out of courtesy, hi to Karl Rove, how are you doing?
Blah, blah, blah.
And I said to him, so what do you think about the recall in
California?
I said they're talking about the recall--
this was now May, it didn't happen yet.
And they were gathering signatures at that time to
have a recall.
And he said ah, California is insane.
Those people are crazy out there.
I mean, I don't know what to make of that state, to be
honest with you.
He says, that recall will never happen, but are you
asking because you're interested in the
governorship?
So of course I was but I didn't want to tell him that.
I always wanted to keep that a secret and just come out like
a blitzkrieg and attack.
And so I said, no, no, no, no.
I said, look, I have nothing--
it's just my own curiosity.
And he said to me, well, just if you're interested in the
governorship, why don't you comes downstairs.
And I saw him working on this texting and all this.
So we went downstairs from his office which was upstairs in
the White House.
We went downstairs and there was the hall that goes to the
Oval Office.
And out of the Oval Office came Condoleezza Rice and she
was the Secretary of State.
She came out and she came towards us smiling, and Karl
Rove said, hey Condi, how are you?
And Condoleezza Rice said, hey Karl, how are you?
And the hugs and kisses and the whole thing.
I was standing there and then he says, oh, Arnold, if you
want to run for governor, this woman Condi, she's going to
run in 2006.
Forget the recall in 2003, there will be
no recall by then.
2006, she's our bet.
We support her 100%.
She will be the next governor of the state of California.
And she was clearly embarrassed, because she did
not know that she was set up to play this role right now.
And she kind of smiled and, no, no, Karl--
[CHUCKLE].
The whole thing.
And he says, no, no, come on, Condi, you tell him.
I mean, you'll be right there and there will be the debates,
I can see already you two debating, it's
going to be a show.
Anyway, Arnold, look, have a good time.
I just wanted you to meet each other, OK?
And that was it.
And then, of course, a few months later, I was just
promoting my movie "Terminator 3" worldwide.
And all of a sudden I read that the people handed in
enough signatures and the recall is going to happen.
So when I came back from my "Conan 3" promotion, the
recall was going to happen and there was like one week to
sign up and to register if you want to go and run.
And out of nowhere, 135 people registered to run for governor
of the state of California--
I mean, total lunatics.
So I was the most normal person of that bunch, just to
show you how crazy it was.
And of course, two months later, I sign up to run.
And two months later, I was governor of the state of
California.
And Karl Rove, he must have gone nuts.
Because when the president came out literally a few weeks
afterwards during the transition period, he met with
me down at Inland Empire at the Mission Inn.
And he said to me, he says, hey Arnold, can
I talk to you alone?
And I said sure, you're the president.
So I went into his room at the Mission Inn, and
Karl Rove was there.
And he said to Karl, he says, Karl, do you mind?
And Karl says, no, no.
He left the room, closed the door.
And he said to me, he says, I know you hate him.
I know, because he didn't support you as governor, I
know you don't like him.
And I said, Mr. President, I just want to
make one thing clear.
I said, California needs a lot of help.
I said, we need to work together.
So I said, my thing with Karl Rove has nothing to do with
that at all.
I said, that's forgotten a long time ago, because
remember who won governorship.
It was not Condoleezza Rice, it was me.
So I said, to me this whole thing was perfectly fine.
I said, we're going to work together and we're going to
make California shine again.
He says, oh, thank you so much.
He opened the door, he says, Karl, you can come
in, he likes you.
So it was great.
And Karl Rove came back in, and the hugging and the
kissing and all that stuff.
So it was great.
MALE SPEAKER: In both your body building career, your
movie career and your political career is this
notion of reps.
And there's a great picture toward the end of the book of
a speech that you gave.
And it's just got all these little lines across the top,
and you explained that each line is one time you did a rep
of the speech, one time you practiced the speech.
So talk a little bit about how you got where
you are through reps.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, in body building and in
lifting, you know that it's all about reps.
But you learn very quickly that that's in everything in
life, it's all about reps.
The more you practice something, the better you get.
If it is skiing, if it is practice a poem, if it is
practice in your job here.
Whatever it is, it's all about mileage and it's all about
reps and there's no shortcut.
And if you ever look for the shortcut or for getting around
and finding some easier way, you're fooling yourself.
Because in the end, it's always the people that are
willing to work the hardest, and that are willing to get in
the trenches, and to do the reps, and to work hard.
And to look at the day, like I've written in the book, that
the day is 24 hours.
Six hours we sleep, so you have left 18 hours.
So don't ever give me this thing that, oh my god, I'm
working 12 hours and I don't have time to
exercise and to work out.
Or I don't have time to study another language and all this
kind of thing.
You have 18 hours, and so utilize the 18 hours well.
And that's really what I always believed in, and I feel
like that that's the only way you can get ahead.
If you have a very clear vision where you want to go,
and if you're willing to put the work in no matter what it
takes to get there and to turn this vision into reality, we
can accomplish basically anything you want.
Because you are in the right place.
America is a place that does not hold you back, it gives
you all the opportunities in the world,
I've seen that firsthand.
None of the things that I've accomplished I would have been
able to do if it wouldn't be for America.
So you are in the best place in the world.
You maybe don't like everything.
You maybe don't like that they are getting stuck in politics
and in Washington they can't get anything done right now
and all those things.
You maybe don't like that, you maybe don't like Romney, you
maybe don't like Obama, or whatever it is.
But you are in the best place in the world.
There's no two ways about that.
I've been all over the world.
And so therefore, there's no excuse for you not to make it
and to accomplish your goal.
So that's what I talk about in the book is it's all about the
determination, the fire in the belly, and the will.
Because in the end, the will will conquer all.
That's the bottom line.
MALE SPEAKER: I know you've got another appointment you
need to run off to.
But there's one last story in the book that I
need to touch on.
Because to me, it was the most fascinating nugget in there.
In "The Terminator" you have a very, very famous line.
May be your most famous line ever.
But you explained that when you were learning English, you
didn't understand contractions, you hated them.
So you thought the line should be said differently than it
was written.
So how would that line have sounded if
you'd gotten your way?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: I will be back.
I was as wrong as anyone can be.
I was arguing with Jim Cameron.
Jim Cameron wrote the script, and so that's
mistake number one.
You never tell a writer that you want to change his lines.
And we had a battle when we shot this scene.
I said, look, I just think it sounds funny when I say "I'll
be back." I'll--
it's weird when I say that.
And he said to me, he says, look Arnold, let's shoot it 10
different ways.
Let's not get hung up on should you say it or not,
because you are going to say it.
Because I wrote it.
And I don't tell you how to act and you don't tell me how
to write, so let's just move forward.
Let's just shoot it 10 different ways.
So that's how Jim and I always talk, kind of straightforward.
And we shot it 10 different ways--
close-ups, medium shots, long shots, zoom-in shots, and
everything you can think of.
By the time I did say it like 50 times, we did all the
different takes and shots, it sounded right to me.
It sounded strong to me.
Because it just didn't feel like it was strong enough and
machine-like enough.
And in the end when I saw it in the film, I was happy that
he convinced me to say it that way.
And when you say a line like that, you never know if that's
the line that becomes the most famous line
in the movie history.
And it just was voted as number one
line in movie history.
You don't know that.
I didn't even know it was anything special at all.
Only when I promoted the film, and I remember I was in New
York and I had people coming up to me on the street and
saying to me, he says, say it.
And I said, say what?
They say, the line!
The line from "Terminator." And I said, which one?
Oh, come on.
You know, "I'll be back" line.
I said, OK, I'll be back.
No, no, no, just the way you say it in the movie.
And then I will say, "I'll be back." Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's the one.
So I realized then, jeez, what did we create?
A monster there or something like that?
It was like a big surprise to me that it
became such a big hit.
And it became bigger as time went on
and the rest is history.
So since then, people have been writing lines because
they think I know how to deliver them.
In the meantime, it was Cameron just standing there
and saying OK, let's do it 20 different ways and you've got
to say it exactly that way and all that stuff.
But it has worked and now there's the lines "Hasta la
vista, baby" and "I lied" and "*** you, ***," and all
those kind of things.
They all became kind of big lines.
Even though those lines someone else said many
times before me.
But just the way I say it I think they
become kind of something.
And so it's great.
It has been great to be a part of this movie business.
And it's also been great that I was able to make the
decision to run for governor.
And to take seven years out of my life and to do that and to
be a public servant.
There's nothing more satisfying, especially as an
immigrant, to do that.
And then after it's over not to be a career politician, but
to just step back and say I go back again what I did
originally.
And now I have a great time doing again the acting.
I've done four movies since I finished my governorship.
But I continue on with policy.
That's why I started the Schwarzenegger
Institute at USC.
Where we will continue talking about the environmental
issues, stem cell research, the importance of that.
And stimulating the economy, rebuilding our infrastructure,
and also job creation.
And good government practice like we did redistricting
reform during my
administration and open primaries.
We want to continue that way.
How do we go and provide a better system for the people
so politicians become more and more public servants rather
than party servants?
How do we bring both of the parties together?
And they don't have to get along, I'm
not asking for that.
They should have their own
philosophies, they should disagree.
But how do you go and say in the end, we got to do the
people's work, so we got to compromise.
And then come up with a way of compromising, just like Ronald
Reagan did, or as Bill Clinton did in many of his policies.
There's a way of doing it and some people
hit the sweet spot.
Today, it's not happening, and that's why we have no
immigration policy that is a coherent one.
We have no trade policy that's really good.
We don't have an infrastructure policy where we
really spend, again, 4% or 5% of our GDP on infrastructure.
Our health care policy is in a shamble, and we are spending
more and more money on that.
So all of those things need to be fixed.
And unless both of the parties work together, we
will not fix them.
And America is going to suffer because of it.
MALE SPEAKER: There's another great story in the book where
you decide to run for governor and Teddy Kennedy ends up
giving you advice.
And he explains that he can't come and endorse you, but he
ends up not campaigning against the recall election.
What was the advice he gave you?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I think my mother-in-law would
have bitten his head off if he would have
campaigned against me.
Because she really thought the world of me and she thought it
was great that I jumped into the race.
And even though I was a Republican, she wrote a check
for $23,000.
And she told me never to tell anyone because she never gave
Teddy any money.
I mean, he ran for senate and for president, but she gave me
a big check.
But I think that Teddy was a terrific guy.
And he was a very talented senator.
And when they ask him and told him that I don't want to jump
into the world that he's in, into the political arena.
That I know everything about entertainment and sports and
so, but not as much about politics as he does since he
has been involved in that his whole life.
Is there any point, if there's one point that you could make,
what would that be?
And he said to me, Arnold, when you go into the race,
never get into details.
And I looked at him and I said, why do you say that?
Because I just don't know much about the details or what?
He says, no.
He says, I am smarter about health care than
anyone on the hill.
He says, I had a four hour hearing where we debated and
discussed health care reform into the minute details.
And when I came out of the chamber after the four hours,
the press ran after me and says, well, senator, when can
we hear the specifics?
When can we hear about the details?
So he says you can never satisfy them.
They always will ask you for the details.
And the reason is because they hope the more you go into
details, that you will eventually trip up.
And you will make one mistake or say something wrong, and
that's when they attack.
He said, that's the way it works.
So don't even get in there.
Just tell them, he says, I will let
you know early enough.
They will complain and they will say he's not giving us
the details.
But that's OK, at least you didn't trip up, and at least
they didn't trick you into saying something wrong.
He says, so keep saying you will get the specifics, we
will make the official announcements very soon.
And you're going to be part of it, and you'll be the first
one to know as soon as I have the details.
And all this stuff he says.
And by that time, you win, and you move on.
And so that's exactly what I did.
And so I was successful, exactly.
So anyway, thank you very much all of you for listening.
I really appreciate it, and I'll be back.
Thank you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]