Yahoo Sports Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls seeing Linda Hamilton's buffed up Terminator 2 biceps for the first time
"Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor makes Thelma and Louise look like Ethel and Lucy," EW noted at the time of Terminator 2: Judgment Day's arrival. And it turns out her costar, former five-time Mr. Universe himself Arnold Schwarzenegger was not prepared for Hamilton's buffed up body debut.
In the three-part Netflix documentary series Arnold (out now), Schwarzenegger recounted the first time he saw his costar's arms. "A few days before we start shooting [director] Jim Cameron says to me, let's all get together and have a nice dinner," the actor recalls. "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."
"I said, 'I cant believe that son of a bitch is f---ing more cut than me,'" the actor recalled with a smile.
Arnold Schwarzenegger/Instagram Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton flexing in 1991.
For Hamilton's part, she giddily recalls how eager she was to show Schwarzenegger, who was not only a bodybuilding champion but the star of several tough guy action movies. "I do remember the fierce pride I had to show to Arnold," she exclaims.
In 1991 Hamilton shared with EW that her costar "was low-key" about her new ripped physique but "when he saw how strong I was, he was thrilled" and taught her how to pose with her best bicep forward.
Terminator 2 grossed over $500 million dollars worldwide, making it the highest grossing film of 1991, but despite his costar's newfound strength for her character, Schwarzenegger initially was unsure about making his Terminator a machine who doesn't kill people.
"At first Arnold was absolutely against the idea," Cameron says in Arnold. The director says he and the star were meeting to talk about the film when Cameron noticed Schwarzenegger wasn't being "his usual cheerful self."
"I go, 'What's the matter? You don't like it," muses 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." So the Terminator offered up a concession to his director. "Okay, alright. Can I shoot them in the leg?"
Cameron decided to give his star his request, "I said, 'Yeah, lets just shoot 'em in the leg, how's that?' He goes, 'That's good.'"
Arnold is on Netflix now.
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Related content:
