Chattanooga Times Free Press

MR. LUCKY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

A new Netflix TV show and documentary, and his sunny hopes for the future (No pollution! A Danny DeVito reunion!), cement his status as a legendary star who can do anything—or will certainly try.

BY MARA REINSTEIN

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mere presence is intimidating, so imagine the trepidation when he starts a conversation with a stone-faced, “Can I ask you a question?”

He proceeds to wonder aloud what to do when people who have worked for him for “years and years” deliver him a mid-afternoon cup of coffee that’s, oops, ice cold. “You’re all fired!” he intones to his entourage before handing it back and adding, “Why can’t I get good help?”

For the record, he’s joking. The iconic star knows he has it good. He says as much just a moment later when asked how life has been treating him lately. “Well, I would say not just lately but in general, I’ve been very, very fortunate,” he explains. “I always say that I’m the luckiest son of a bitch alive.” But luck only runs so far. Schwarzenegger’s one-in-a-billion story of a guy who goes from working-class Austrian child to five-time Mr. Universe to white-hot Hollywood action hero to seven-year California governor to impassioned social activist is also the result of some serious grit and dedication. “My dream was to come to America and be a world champion in bodybuilding and then get into the movies and be rich and famous—and that alone is a huge dream,” he says. “But to expand on that and get the chance to meet Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan and the popes, you know, it’s just crazy. But it’s an interesting life and it never gets boring.”

Now the 75-year-old can add a new line to that robust resume: TV star. In the action-comedy FUBAR (on Netflix), he plays a cigar-chomping CIA vet set on retiring until he’s recruited for one final mission to extract a top agent. Much to his shock, that agent is his daughter (Monica Barbaro, Top Gun: Maverick.) The pair quickly realize that their relationship has been a true lie and join forces to stop the bad guys. (FYI, “FUBAR” is military slang for confused and disordered and an acronym for F---ed Up Beyond All Recognition.)

The eight-episode series marks Schwarzenegger’s first live-action scripted small-screen role. “I never thought I’d be doing a TV series,” he admits. “But, you know, this was a great opportunity for me to get back into action and do something new. I couldn’t do this in the ‘80s and ‘90s when we only had about three networks. Nobody would have been interested in something like this.”

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2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.timesfreepress.com/article/282767770979794

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