Arnold Schwarzenegger is an influential actor who gained prominence from his portrayal of the titular character in the Terminator franchise. He continued to work on different projects that further gave him recognition however there was a time when his absence from the famous film series made versatile actor, Christian Bale feel as if the former was not needed in the franchise any longer.
Bale is quite a prominent actor known for his shocking physical transformations that he perfectly executed to legit own his roles in the film industry. Back in 2009, he was seen leading a film in the franchise that did not star the former. It actually left quite an impact on Bale who addressed Mr. Olympia winner’s absence in the film.
Christian Bale Got Candid About Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Absence in Terminator Salvation Film
The 49-year-old actor, Christian Bale, who was at the front in the Terminator Salvation film talked about how the 2009 film was different from the original Terminator film that was released in 1984 starring the face of the franchise, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He told Total Film via Female First in 2009,
“When you’ve got someone who looked like Schwarzenegger coming after you it made a big difference but nowadays, it wouldn’t really – we’ve seen so many guys who imitated him and it just became a little passe.”
He continued to share why he thought that the franchise didn’t need him now as they “can’t just keep re-hashing the same plot.”
Though the franchise continued to portray “one singular figure of villainy” who is constantly pursuing however that idea would not have worked in the long run as per him.
“‘Terminator’ is known for having this one singular figure of villainy that is constantly pursuing but how many times can you keep on doing it?”
He further added,
“‘There was a realisation of ‘Look, the mythology is dead unless we reinvent something, put it in a different world, recreate completely.'”
As per him, the same old concept would have bored the fans’ which is why his presence would have not felt right by the franchise. However, the actual reason was something else that was brought up later in light.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Governer of California Responsibilities Tied His Hands!
Back at the time, it was revealed that the actor was serving as the governor of California which is why he was absent in the fourth installment of the famous film franchise. However, he had no remorse over the same.
During a 2015 interview on Good Morning America, he expressed his feelings about the 2009 film stating that it “sucked.”
While praising the first three films in the franchise, he confessed not liking the fourth film.
“I think that the three that I was in, they all three had their own personalities and interesting storylines.”
Unlike the first three, Bale’s film was supposed to commence a new trilogy as it was the first to break from a time travel format. But it ended up becoming a flop among critics, fans, and not to mention our titular star. Having grossed over $371.4 million worldwide, it received an approval rating of 33% based on 280 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes becoming among the worst films in the franchise.
Source: Total Film via Female First
