Terminator Now Must Try to Reinvent His Screen Persona

The consensus in Hollywood and political circles is that Arnold Schwarzenegger is giving up on the notion of transforming himself from actor into governor. His flagging movie career may require an even more challenging makeover.

Despite his return to the signature cyborg role in “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” this summer, the 56-year-old Schwarzenegger has been struggling in recent years to maintain his status in an industry that has seldom been kind to its aging stars. He changed agents and publicists as the box-office take shriveled around costly misfires from top studios -- “Jingle All the Way” from News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox, “The 6th Day” from Sony Corp.’s Columbia Pictures, “Collateral Damage” from AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. and “End of Days” from Universal Pictures, now owned by Vivendi Universal.

With politics apparently headed to the back burner, according to associates, the actor will have to return his attention to one of Hollywood’s most confounding tasks: how to become a fresh face without diminishing an aura built on the past. That probably will mean reaching out to filmmakers who once might have courted him, adjusting his screen persona and perhaps taking roles in smaller pictures that would showcase skills that may have escaped notice.

“Arnold’s reinvented himself his whole life,” said director Ivan Reitman, the first to take a flier on the action star’s comic abilities by teaming him with Danny DeVito on the 1988 hit “Twins” and later in “Kindergarten Cop” and “Junior.”

Calling Schwarzenegger “a very practical guy,” Reitman predicted the actor would use “as much star muscle as he can” in reviving a career that moved in the 1980s from bodybuilding to blockbusters.

About two weeks ago, Schwarzenegger called Reitman, asking him to consider directing a family comedy called “Big Sir,” which is being developed by AOL Time Warner’s New Line Cinema unit. The director hasn’t yet responded. But the star’s outreach indicates a desire to woo the kind of support he previously could take for granted.

In the early 1990s, Schwarzenegger rode a phenomenal hot streak as top-drawer directors such as Reitman, Paul Verhoeven and James Cameron featured him in an almost unbroken string of hits. After stumbling with Columbia’s “The Last Action Hero” in 1993, he came back a year later with “True Lies,” which took in $146 million at the U.S. box office.

Many major stars have capitalized on such momentum by establishing themselves in parallel careers as producers and directors. Thus Mel Gibson, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood, among others, have used their celebrity to anchor a filmmaking machinery that has served them long after the simple appeal of youth had faded.

Schwarzenegger, by contrast, largely has remained an actor for hire. He sometimes has taken producer credits but hasn’t become the center of a major production company. And he shied away from directing after two modest efforts: the 1992 TV movie “Christmas in Connecticut” for Turner Pictures and a 1989 episode of “Tales From the Crypt” for HBO. “He doesn’t like meetings,” an associate said.

In returning to his “Terminator” role, which coincided with the attention his political foray generated, the actor briefly rekindled past glory. But the hugely expensive film has grossed just $138.7 million domestically.

The relatively soft performance could make it more difficult for Schwarzenegger to reprise other past successes, despite flirtations with possible sequels to “True Lies” and “Conan the Barbarian,” which established him as an action star in 1982.

Armyan Bernstein, the producer who made “End of Days” with Schwarzenegger in 1999, said the star can remain viable as an action hero if his roles are “true to the age he is and true to what the audience knows.” Bernstein, whose company is developing an “action buddy comedy” designed as a vehicle for Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan, cites Clint Eastwood’s success in portraying a creaky, tired gunslinger in “Unforgiven,” which won the best picture Oscar for 1992.

Creative Artists Agency, which has represented Schwarzenegger since he left the William Morris Agency last year, has been negotiating for the actor to star in New Line’s “Big Sir,” even though the comedy is currently without a producer, director, start date or production budget.

The agents also have their eye on a remake of “Westworld” for Warner. Schwarzenegger has been quoted as saying he would avoid the too-familiar robot role in the cult science fiction film, preferring instead to portray the more vulnerable, hunted human.

A far more radical step might involve another project, “Cry Macho.” Based on a book by Richard Nash and produced by Schwarzenegger’s close friend Al Ruddy, the independent project would presumably cost far less than the big-budget spectacles Schwarzenegger has carried in the past. It also might let him display dramatic talents that haven’t always been apparent. “Cry Macho” tells the story of a man bringing a 12-year-old boy back to his estranged father.

If that seems a stretch for an actor best known for zingers like “Hasta la vista, baby,” close friends believe that Schwarzenegger, with his bodybuilding focus, can achieve any realistic goal he might set.

“He’ll find a third act in his movie career if that’s what he wants,” said producer Steve Reuther, who made last year’s action thriller “Collateral Damage” with Schwarzenegger.

Reuther said it would be unwise to bet against the actor. “He’s always had such confidence in himself.”

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Box-office muscle

Some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s highest-grossing movies:

*--* Domestic Release box office Movie (distributor) date (millions) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Tristar) 7/3/91 $204.8 True Lies (Fox) 7/15/94 $146.3 Terminator 3: Rise/Machines (Warner Bros.) 7/2/03 $138.7* Total Recall (Tristar) 6/1/90 $119.4 Twins (Universal) 12/9/88 $111.9 Eraser (Warner Bros.) 6/21/96 $101.3 Kindergarten Cop (Universal) 12/21/90 $91.5

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*As of Tuesday

Source: Nielsen