While promoting THE LAST STAND, his first leading role after running California, the Austrian actor confessed he’s not liking what he sees in the mirror.
“I cannot tell you about aging, but it sucks. I’m no different than you. I look in the mirror and say, ‘What happened!’ Once I had muscles, and slowly their deteriorating.”THE LAST STAND star, a fitness advocate, says he “feels good” with his daily regimen of exercise despite the image he’s seeing in the mirror.
When Schwarzenegger was governor, he knew when his run ended he would return to action movies regardless of his age, but he worried whether there would be room with the new generation of action stars emerging.
Once he left Sacramento and planned his return to the action genre in THE LAST STAND, he came into it knowing he’s not the 35-year-old action star. THE LAST STAND script spoke to the Terminator star in that the story revolves around a Sheriff nearing his retirement who must spring into action when he learns criminals from a cartel are headed to his town.
The characters in THE LAST STAND call him out on his age with “grandpa” references. In another scene from THE LAST STAND, when the Sheriff crashes through the cafe door during a shootout and asked by the patrons how he’s feeling. He responds, “Old!” Watch clip.
Did the funny on-liners bother the actor? Schwarzenegger told CineMovie he didn’t dwell on the jokes because they were “appropriate at that moment.” He credits Clint Eastwood with doing the exact thing in Unforgiven, and he knew one day he’d be applying the same idea.
“You throw it in and it takes the curse off then. You can make fun of yourself. I think Clint did that very well.”
He may be 65, but Schwarzenegger threw himself into the role of a town sheriff with no sight of slowing down. He had his share of action scenes and stunts. His co-stars only had good things to say about working with their childhood idol. Jamie Alexander (Thor) says the Schwarzenegger never complained about the long hours and “he can still kick your ass at an arm wrestling contest.” Johnny Knoxville (Jackass) called him “open, gregarious, pleasant” with the whole experience of starring alongside “surreal.”
His LAST STAND co-stars Luis Guzman and Rodrigo Santoro also gushed about working with the iconic action hero. Schwarzenegger thanked his co-stars for their generous words, but he couldn’t help but cringe when each one of them would point out “I grew up watching him.” Of course he had a funny comeback with Luis Guzman when he uttered the same words. “I think it’s the other way around,” Schwarzenegger replied.
Luis Guzman summed up Schwarzenegger's return to Hollywood movies very well. "He's not, he'll be back. He's back."
Up next for Schwarzenegger is yet another reboot of his early film Conan The Barbarian and he'll be revisiting Twins with a sequel, Triplets. He's also got his fair share of action films lined up including a reunion with The Expendable's Sylvester Stallone in The Tomb and Ten in 2014 as a DEA agent.
