Arnold Schwarzenegger became the ultimate action star in Hollywood in the 1980s with blockbusters such as ‘Terminator’ and ‘Conan – The Barbarian’ and not only impressed the minds of film fans with his muscles of steel, but also because of his Austrian accent. However, this was exactly what was expected to be a hurdle for him to be among the big players internationally, and so the actor pulled out all the stops to improve his English.
Like Arnold Schwarzenegger now with the told, He hired teachers just in case – who almost ruined his career: “I had an English teacher, an acting teacher, a speech coach and an accent removal coach who has now sadly passed away, but otherwise I should have gotten my money back.”
For Arnold Schwarzenegger, his accent became his unique selling point
The actor went on to explain that he especially had trouble pronouncing the “TH” and his coach had him repeat the English phrase “Three thousand three hundred and thirty-three and a third” until he learned how to pronounce the “TH” as “S-Ree ‘ stopped. His accented English skills were repeatedly seen by Hollywood moguls as a stone in the road of his career, as the tide suddenly turned after several successful productions.
“The crazy thing is that what all the big Hollywood producers, directors and geniuses said would be a problem has turned into a capital asset,” the actor said. Because when Schwarzenegger was in front of the camera for “Terminator,” he got completely different feedback from director James Cameron: “When I did ‘Terminator,’ Jim Cameron said: “The reason ‘Terminator’ worked and why it became so successful is because Schwarzenegger talks like a machine.””
In our FILMSTARTS user rankings of the actor’s best films, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Terminator” debut actually only comes in second place – just behind the iconic sequel “Terminator 2 – Judgment Day”. But take a look at the list for yourself: