Because he decided to portray the antagonist, James Cameron’s science-fiction thriller made its star one of the most popular Hollywood action heroes of the 1980s and 1990s, as he revealed to the media in 1985.
Nothing Arnold Schwarzenegger did was ever done half-heartedly. He claimed to have practiced disassembling and reassembling future weapons for hours each day while wearing a blindfold for his breakout role in The Terminator, “to really show that I’m an expert coming back from the year 2028 to our present time in Los Angeles.”
This blend of hard work and clever marketing would propel Schwarzenegger’s career to previously unheard-of heights. His charismatic deadpan style was helpful.
Few performers could make a simple remark like “I’ll be back” into a catchphrase that would define their careers. Equally crucial, though, was his readiness to work the hours necessary to fulfill his goals and to be honest about all of that labor. “You have to lock into a whole different kind of emotional obligation to play a machine,” he told the Breakfast Time during a January 1985 promotional tour to London. You walk in a very distinct manner. You handle your firearms differently. Your facial emotions when you kill and other such actions are inappropriate because you aren’t allowed to feel anything.
