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The devisers of these burly entertainments knew the Arnold character was both incredibly heroic and inherently comic; the films contain their own parodies. Moviegoers realized this too. Sure, even his forehead has intimidating muscles; but then he breaks into a big gap-toothed grin, and the put-off is revealed as a put-on. So to cast Schwarzenegger in comedy is very nearly redundant -- especially when, as with Twins (1988), it offered nothing more than Hollywood high concept: pairing the big guy with scruffy shrimp Danny De Vito. Even lamer is Kindergarten Cop, which opens in the U.S. this week. The film can't even live up to its title, which suggests an hour or so of big bad Arnold coping comically with snotty tykes. Oh, young performers from the Professional School for Kute Kids do get to recite part of the Gettysburg Address and, of course, say penis and vagina. But mostly Cop is a police procedural, a hostage thriller, a no-brain suspenser and a vengeful- mother drama. It adds up to the sternest test yet for Arnold's box-office clout -- and for the patience of his millions of fans.
Hollywood is more demanding than any critic; it looks for quality only on a profit statement. There, through good movies and bad, action films and comedies, Arnold gets four stars. His pictures can use a strong premise, but they don't need high-priced supporting players; his aura is enough. (Quick, name the second-billed actor of The Terminator, Commando, Predator or Total Recall.) He also has the respect -- maybe even the fear -- of the front-office boys, because he gets involved in every aspect of production and promotion.
"It's not enough to think about the script and the director," he says. "I must ask, Who is the studio? What is the international program? How much money do they have to spend on promotion? I don't want to make a decision to work | hard at something, to believe in something 100% and then have an executive in there who doesn't believe in spending a lot of money. I've had that happen. Predator opened at $12 million, and Barry Diller ((who runs 20th Century Fox)) said, 'We don't want to support the second week of the movie. It can go by itself now.' That was a major, major, major mistake. Now I know that is something to discuss beforehand."
Schwarzenegger actively promotes his movies abroad, where he is an even bigger star than in the U.S. "They see me as both American and European," he says. "And they know that I am not dealing with an American arrogance that says we are the kings. I go to Australia, even though there is no money there. If the Soviet Union would have a premiere of my film, I would go because I know that The Terminator was the hottest tape on the black market. So my attitude is that you have to pay attention to the entire world. Everything is becoming very global, especially movies. Look what has happened overseas in the past five years with video and cable and TV. American companies are finally waking up and cleaning up. But they were not ahead of the game. Only because of demand are they waking up. We've got to look at everything as equally important."