LOS ANGLES, CALIFORNIA: Arnold Schwarzenegger recalled being impressed by his co-star Linda Hamilton's buffed-up arms before shooting the iconic 'Terminator' movie in the three-part Netflix documentary series 'Arnold'. Hamilton, 66, is widely acclaimed for playing Sarah Connor in the 'Terminator' film series alongside the 75-year-old Austrian.
"A few days before we start shooting [director] Jim Cameron says to me, let's all get together and have a nice dinner," Schwarzenegger recounted, according to Entertainment Weekly. "Linda comes in and then she takes her sweater off and I'm looking at her arms. Veins on the biceps and then the triceps — everything was like a bodybuilder except miniature."
'That son of a bitch is f---ing more cut than me'
The actor then said that he was highly impressed to see her more jacked than him. "I said, 'I can't believe that son of a bitch is f---ing more cut than me,'" the actor recalled with a smile. Hamilton, for her part, was quite exuberant to show her impressive physique to Arnold, who is known as one of the best bodybuilders of all time and has also been the star of several popular tough-guy action movies. "I do remember the fierce pride I had to show to Arnold," she exclaims.
Arnold was 'low-key' about her ripped physique
Hamilton told the outlet back in 1991 that Arnold "was low-key" about her new ripped physique, but "when he saw how strong I was, he was thrilled" and even taught her to pose with her best bicep forward. The second installment of the 'Terminator' movie franchise went on to collect more than $500 million and became the highest-grossing film of 1991. However, Arnold was still skeptical bout making his Terminator a machine that doesn't claim the lives of people.
'Arnold was absolutely against the idea'
"At first Arnold was absolutely against the idea," Cameron says in the Netflix series. The director recalled him and the actor meeting to discuss the film when Cameron noticed Schwarzenegger wasn't "his usual cheerful self." "I go, 'What's the matter? You don't like it," asked the Terminator creator. "He says, 'Jim, I don't kill anybody.'" The director tried to explain that the cyborg is "the good guy" now, "the defender, the protector." As a result the Terminator offered up a concession to his director. "Okay, alright. Can I shoot them in the leg?"
Cameron allowed his star his request, "I said, 'Yeah, lets just shoot 'em in the leg, how's that?' He goes, 'That's good.'"
Where is Linda Hamilton now?
Linda Hamilton has seen a comparatively more successful career on television than on the big screen. The actress previously stated she felt like Los Angeles had become a place of “inflated egos, and inflated boobs and lips. I felt like a real outsider, so I left.” She currently has a recurring role as a military general on the Peacock sci-fi comedy series 'Resident Alien', which was renewed for its third season in July last year.
