Conan The Barbarian is a 42-year-old epic that saw the meteoric rise of Arnold Schwarzenegger with his breakout role. A valuable addition to Schwarzenegger’s acting career, the movie portrayed him as the boy who turned into a slave after warlords murdered his kin. As expected, the beauty of the 1982 action movie lay in its dangerous conditions and the bodybuilder’s internalization of the chaotic character. However, in a recent chat with Travis and Jason Kelce on ‘New Heights‘, the former professional bodybuilder admitted knowing that no one except him could have served the role better.
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The role was perfectly suited to Arnold Schwarzenegger, not only because of his 6’2″ stature but also because of his peak specimen physique. However, being the perfect fit didn’t come without its challenges. According to the ‘Terminator’ actor, the stunts were performed in dangerous conditions. And being an important part of the storyline, even the crudest action scenes were performed by Schwarzenegger himself, giving rise to frustration.
“I was kind of the perfect guy for that time and there were no stunt guys around that had a body like that. So I had to kind of do most of my stunts myself there,” explained Schwarzenegger, adding, “I mean it was like really frustrating because I had to do a lot of the stuff.”
Though it sounds barbaric to push an actor into grueling conditions, there was more to the story. As it turns out, Arnold’s build became a deciding factor, making it difficult for producers to find stuntmen. Explaining the same, Arnold Schwarzenegger soon mentioned his rationale for putting up with the frustrating on-set stunts.
“We could never have done Conan without Schwarzenegger because there was no one around that had a body like that,” stated Schwarzenegger about his role.
Later during the show, the former governor of California also talked about being trampled by horses and falling off them during the production of the movie. But in the end, it was all worth it since the movie became a critically acclaimed box office hit.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Reveals the Juvenile Competitions Between Action Stars
This isn’t the first time that Arnold has quoted his struggles from the set of Conan the Barbarian. His book ‘Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life‘ contains more insights into how he went through unprecedented challenges. Some of these included having to bite a real dead vulture and crawl through rocks with bleeding forearms for the body-builder turned actor. Building up on the same conversation, Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed that he also had to put up a front against juvenile competitions between action stars to continue his work gracefully.
The era of action movies in the 20th century points to stars like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold himself. And the latter is nothing but grateful for how it transpired over the years. He even showered praise on the ‘Rocky’ actor for his awe-inspiring acting skills and godlike athletic form. Arnold feels that he and Stallone created an era of action movies, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I mean we created an era of of action movies,” further detailing, “All of those guys came in, they were ripped they were muscular and then, so it became a competition, you know, it’s like uh but not just a competition of who has the best body.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s confession explained what happens in any spirited arena, even the movies. Despite the competition, his greatness remains untouched to date with anticipation for another role in the Conan franchise. The latest development took place in 2020 as Netflix announced Conan The Barbarian series, but nothing came of it. Though anticipation to revive the series and watch the 76-year-old embrace the role with its nuances for the last time bothers fans, many still consider the original to be the greatest.
