Arnold Schwarzenegger practiced his English accent "five hours a day".
Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Austrian-American star landed his debut acting role in 1969's 'Hercules in New York' after working hard to build a $300 million real estate empire which afforded him the opportunity to pick which movies he wanted to star in.
Speaking to Jenny Powell at his 'An Experience With Arnold Schwarzenegger' talk in Newport, South Wales this week, he said: "I became wealthy from real estate before I ever made any money from acting. That enabled me to take movie roles that I wanted rather than forced to take."
Schwarzenegger has never been one to "shy away from failure" and admitted after playing the titular Roman hero, which he described he said "went right into the toilet", he decided he'd best dedicate just as much time to perfecting his English accent as he did working out.
After the audience cheered, he said: "Oh you're very kind.
"Because when that movie came out, it went right into the toilet.
"I never shy away from failure. But [Hercules] was a good stepping stone for me.
"I needed to work on my acting and work on my English accent.
"I worked on my accent five hours a day, just like I worked on my body five hours a day."
Meanwhile, the former Governor of California recently admitted he decided to return to the 'Terminator' franchise for a fifth time because he is "addicted" to playing his cyborg character.
The 71-year-old actor first appeared as the killer T-800 assassin - a cybernetic organism sent back in time from a future Earth ruled by machines - in James Cameron's 1984 sci-fi classic 'The Terminator' and is coming back to the franchise for a fifth outing in Tim Miller's upcoming sixth movie 'Terminator: Dark Fate'.
Schwarzenegger has starred in every movie in the franchise other than 2009's 'Terminator Salvation' as he couldn't take part as he was in public office serving as the Governor at the time and he admits he just can't stay away from the franchise that helped make him famous and change his life.
he said: "I need to come back. I'm addicted to 'Terminator'. 'Terminator' was the movie that really launched my action movie career.
"James Cameron came to me and says, 'I want you to be in 'Terminator' and I want you to play the Terminator. From that moment on everything has changed my life ... He really created the 80s and the 90s action genre."
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