# Arnold Schwarzenegger is the greatest actor since . . .
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 3, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348 "2003-09-03T16:45:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/1 "2003-09-03T16:45:59Z")
The Log Lady’s log in _Twin Peaks._
I watched _Collateral Damage_ last night and was just stunned—STUNNED I tell you—at just how wooden Schwarzensteroid’s performance was. Obviously I haven’t seen a Schwarzenvehikle for a while. Or, more accurately, until he decided to run for Schwarzenguvenur of Schwarzenkalifornja, I’d always accepted his roles in movies the only one way one _can_ accept them: by basically ignoring them; by consuming them as intended: as Schwarzenvakuums around which the actual action of a film takes place. Schwarzenegger isn’t an actor; he’s an armature to hang a plot and an FX budget on.
Never was this more plain to me than in _Collateral Damage_. Maybe it’s just that I never really paid much attention to him before his recent bizarre Warholian 15-minutes of metafame, or maybe he’s subject—despite the nearly lifelike latex visage that appears in public nowadays—to the same ravages of age that all of us are. But the dude can barely _move!_
Watch _CD_ and notice that every scene that includes Schwarzenboulder is edited in quick, jerky cuts: he never has to perform any sustained movement. The few exceptions—scenes wherein he’s running, for example—were framed to deemphasize his nearly crippled state: he runs straight toward the camera, for example, so we can’t see that he’s making very little lateral progress; or he runs away from the camera, so we can’t see that it’s actually a stunt Schwarzendoppleganger.
Every closeup reaction shot is just PAINfully choreographed and over rehearsed; each turn of his head and goggle of his eyes is isolated and exaggerated. _BOOM of explosion; cut to Scharzenkloseup: labored swing of the head; cut to somewhere, ANYwhere else._
Can anyone help me understand how he ever became such a big star?
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### Author:  [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/2 "2003-09-03T16:48:42Z")
He had the good fortune to hit it big before CGI made real-life bodies redundant. 🙂
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/3 "2003-09-03T16:56:19Z")
Yeah; he should hire Pixar to humanize him a little.
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### Author:  [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/4 "2003-09-03T16:59:44Z")
He certainly isn’t going to be in contention for an oscar any time soon, but he does have a couple of things going for him;
- Terminator 2. In addition to being a classic sci-fi/action movie, could anybody really see someone else in his role?
- He comes across as a nice guy in interviews and so forth. Doesn’t get pissed off when people mangle his name or immitate his accent so he comes across as not taking himself too seriously.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/5 "2003-09-03T17:31:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lissener \*
> \*\*
>
> Watch _CD_ and notice that every scene that includes Schwarzenboulder is edited in quick, jerky cuts: he never has to perform any sustained movement. The few exceptions—scenes wherein he’s running, for example—were framed to deemphasize his nearly crippled state: he runs straight toward the camera, for example, so we can’t see that he’s making very little lateral progress; or he runs away from the camera, so we can’t see that it’s actually a stunt Schwarzendoppleganger.
>
> Every closeup reaction shot is just PAINfully choreographed and over rehearsed; each turn of his head and goggle of his eyes is isolated and exaggerated. _BOOM of explosion; cut to Scharzenkloseup: labored swing of the head; cut to somewhere, ANYwhere else._\*\*
Ala Stallone in all the “Rambo” sequels.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/6 "2003-09-03T17:42:02Z")
Zackly. And any decent Julia Roberts or Tom Cruise vehicle: establishing closeups to get the producers’ money’s worth, then back to the other actors, the _real_ actors, to carry the actual movie.
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### Author:  [@wakimika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wakimika)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/7 "2003-09-03T17:58:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sirtonyh \*
> **Terminator 2. In addition to being a classic sci-fi/action movie, could anybody really see someone else in his role?**
Believe it or not, the original “Terminator” role was offered to O.J. Simpson.
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### Author:  [@Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muldoon_s_Squishiness)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/8 "2003-09-03T18:55:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lissener \*
> \*\*Zackly. And any decent Julia Roberts or Tom Cruise vehicle: establishing closeups to get the producers’ money’s worth, then back to the other actors, the _real_ actors, to carry the actual movie. \*\*
Right.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/9 "2003-09-03T20:09:10Z")
Unlike Cruise and Schwarzenhaagendaaz, Julia Roberts can suck _without_ the aid of special effects. I guess that’s why she has an Oscar. :smack:
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/10 "2003-09-03T20:10:32Z")
:shudder: Oscar winner Julia Roberts… 😕
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/11 "2003-09-03T21:00:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness \*
> \*\*Right.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: \*\*
Don’t tell me you’re trying to say that Julia Roberts can act. Cuz if you are, me’n’you are gonna hafta have a fight.
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### Author:  [@deb2world](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deb2world)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/12 "2003-09-03T21:23:34Z")
I’ll play this game
My answer to “Arnold Schwarzenegger is the greatest actor since . . .” – **Ronald Reagon**
Reason for above answer is look at all the parallels. Both pretty bad actors but popular nonetheless, political aspirations, not as bright in the brains department as people perceive them to be.
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### Author:  [@Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Live_Better_Electrically)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/13 "2003-09-03T21:28:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*Arnold Schwarzenegger is the greatest actor since . . . \*\*
…Lou Ferrigno.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/14 "2003-09-03T21:34:53Z")
…Joe Piscopo
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/15 "2003-09-03T21:36:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Marley23 \*
> \*\*:shudder: Oscar winner Julia Roberts… 😕 \*\*
**Blucher!!**
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/16 "2003-09-03T22:22:48Z")
. . . Edith Massey.
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### Author:  [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/17 "2003-09-03T22:28:09Z")
Sonny Tufts
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/18 "2003-09-03T22:32:18Z")
. . . Elizabeth Berkley
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/19 "2003-09-03T22:54:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> not as bright in the brains department as people perceive them to be.
😕
How bright in the brains department to people perceive Schwartzencreature to be?
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### Author:  [@Cahyay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cahyay)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-the-greatest-actor-since/199348/20 "2003-09-04T01:52:54Z")
…Pamela Anderson
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