Speaker 1: My next guest knows a thing or two about the
Speaker 1: state of California. He served as the thirty eighth governor
Speaker 1: of the state, and he happens to be an Emmy
Speaker 1: and Golden Globe Award winning actor. He now stars and
Speaker 1: executive producers the Netflix hit series Foo Baar. Please welcome
Speaker 1: the one and only Arnold Schwartzernegat to the show. Sir.
Speaker 1: It is an honor and a privilege. How are you.
Speaker 2: I'm doing terrific, Thank you.
Speaker 3: It came back from Austria just a few days ago
Speaker 3: and with the little cough.
Speaker 2: So if I have a cough attack in the middle
Speaker 2: of this, just you know, be patient.
Speaker 1: VI Meal, OK, listen, and I'll do you one better. Dammit,
Speaker 1: I run this show. I'll pause, cut out the cough,
Speaker 1: and it get right back to you so nobody will
Speaker 1: notice the cough. So you don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: it today. You have to worry think about it. Listen up, honor,
Speaker 1: before we get into fool Ball, because I can't wait
Speaker 1: to talk to you about that Netflix series. I really
Speaker 1: joyed watching it and I can't wait to talk to
Speaker 1: you about it. But news obviously takes president first. Before
Speaker 1: we get into that series. I wanted to get your
Speaker 1: thoughts on the current unrest taking place in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: after ICE agents rated several businesses and protests that led
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump to order the deployment of two thousand
Speaker 1: National Guard troops to the city. What's your reaction to
Speaker 1: all of this.
Speaker 3: My reaction is I hope that the solvedest problem as
Speaker 3: quickly as possible, as you know that Los Angeles has
Speaker 3: gone through some really bad fires recently, and I think
Speaker 3: this is the last thing that we need right now,
Speaker 3: and I just hope that they will solved as quickly
Speaker 3: as possible because it's going to hurt the people of
Speaker 3: Los Angeles. It's going to hurt, you know, tourism, it's
Speaker 3: going to hurt business, the revenues which they're always short
Speaker 3: off Los Angeles and the state of California. So I
Speaker 3: just really hope that all of them can coordinate that
Speaker 3: and work together in solveest problems as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1: As mentioned, you served as California's governor from two thousand
Speaker 1: and three to twenty eleven, as a Republican in a
Speaker 1: traditionally democratic state. Homeland securities are Tom Holman appeared to
Speaker 1: threaten to arrest Governor Gavin Newsom before he walked back
Speaker 1: that comment. On Fox News this morning, Newsom says he's
Speaker 1: now suing the Trump administration for involving the National Guard
Speaker 1: to begin with, what are your thoughts on how Governor
Speaker 1: Newsom is responding to the ice raids and the National
Speaker 1: Guard being on the ground in La.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I the last thing I ever do
Speaker 3: is criticize a sitting governor. I think that you know,
Speaker 3: when you have been in this job, you know how
Speaker 3: challenging it is. And on top of it, you know,
Speaker 3: we have a different point of view and a lot
Speaker 3: of things. I'm a Republican and he's a Democrat, so
Speaker 3: he thinks differently about those kind of issues and about
Speaker 3: a lot of issues as far as that goes. But
Speaker 3: I never will criticize him because he is to do
Speaker 3: it his way. People elected him as a Democrat, and
Speaker 3: people elected me as a Republican, so I did it
Speaker 3: my way. I was always when I was governor, very inclusive.
Speaker 3: I worked with the Democrats and the Republicans and the
Speaker 3: client of State and the independents. I've worked with everyone
Speaker 3: together to solve this problem. But weld immigration problems then
Speaker 3: and we have immigration problems now. It's just really a
Speaker 3: shortfall and the shortcoming of the politicians because they never
Speaker 3: solved the problems. And this is a creation better politicians
Speaker 3: in a way, because they don't solve the problem. The
Speaker 3: immigration issue can be resolved very quickly by giving more
Speaker 3: in working permits in student visas to people and then
Speaker 3: they don't have to come in here legally.
Speaker 2: So to me, that is a way to solve it.
Speaker 3: Democrats and Republicans can come together under this issue and
Speaker 3: solve this issue.
Speaker 1: Arnold, do you find this to be a nationwide issue
Speaker 1: or is it a special circumstance in a case In
Speaker 1: the case of California.
Speaker 3: Now, the immigration is year has been going on since
Speaker 3: Ronald Reagan, and I think that the idea was always
Speaker 3: that this solve this issue.
Speaker 2: For decades.
Speaker 3: After decades, the politicians didn't because each one of the
Speaker 3: parties is interested to not solving it because they can
Speaker 3: raise money based on that. Republicans through the hardline and
Speaker 3: the Democrats to the inclusive kind of a spiel, and
Speaker 3: so they all raise money on that, they all campaign
Speaker 3: on that, so they don't really want to solve it.
Speaker 3: To me, those problems out there as a politician, if
Speaker 3: the responsibility not to be a party servant, but to
Speaker 3: be a public servant. In order to serve the public,
Speaker 3: you have to solve this problem and to make it
Speaker 3: the coherent kind of an immigration policy. Right now, we
Speaker 3: don't have one.
Speaker 1: Last question on this issue. You publicly endorsed Kamala Harris.
Speaker 1: The Democratic Party appears to be in flux as facts
Speaker 1: come to light about Joe Biden's fitness to serve a
Speaker 1: certain term a second term. What does the party need
Speaker 1: to do to get back on track? In your estimation,
Speaker 1: even though you were not a member of that party,
Speaker 1: what advice would you give them?
Speaker 2: You know, no advice.
Speaker 3: I think that they will figure out themselves of the
Speaker 3: mistakes that they've made in the past, as much as
Speaker 3: the Republicans always have to figure it out and the
Speaker 3: mistakes they've made in order to get re elected again.
Speaker 3: And so I think they will figure out. They're very
Speaker 3: very smart people in the party, and the Republicans have
Speaker 3: very smart people in the party. The important thing is
Speaker 3: just kind of like to kind of serve the people.
Speaker 3: And if you can prove that you can help the
Speaker 3: people's lives and you can put this so they can
Speaker 3: put food on the table, they can take care of
Speaker 3: the families. If you can do that, then you can
Speaker 3: get the vote. If you run the other way, and
Speaker 3: if you're just kind of a political hack that only
Speaker 3: serves the party, then you have the danger that people
Speaker 3: will abandon you and go any other direction.
Speaker 1: Listen, that's all I got to ask you about that
Speaker 1: on this particular subject, because I've got to get into
Speaker 1: your series on Netflix. Mister Arnold Swartzenegger. Season two of
Speaker 1: Football begins streaming on June twelfth. Talk to me about
Speaker 1: this series. I love it. I gotta admit it. I
Speaker 1: love the father daughter dynamic, both CIA agents. It's been fabulous.
Speaker 1: What made you decide to do.
Speaker 3: This Well, they came to me with the idea of
Speaker 3: doing True Lies but on TV and to do the
Speaker 3: for streaming service for Netflix. And I like the idea
Speaker 3: because True Lies was truly one of my favorite movies
Speaker 3: that I've ever done. Yes, and because he has the
Speaker 3: right balance of comedy and action and drama and violence
Speaker 3: and fun stuff and love and family and all of
Speaker 3: this kind of combinations that I thought made the movie
Speaker 3: so successful. And so I said to myself, if we
Speaker 3: can do a version of that on TV, I think
Speaker 3: we will have a home run. And that's exactly what
Speaker 3: we hit in the first season with the home run.
Speaker 3: I mean the amount of people that watched it. It
Speaker 3: was number one for endless amount of time. And so
Speaker 3: then of course Netflix decided to do number two, and
Speaker 3: not only to make it number two, but to also
Speaker 3: make me the chief Action Officer of Netflix. And now
Speaker 3: you know, then that means that you're not only responsible
Speaker 3: for your action show, but for others as well. But
Speaker 3: the bottom line is is, you know, I was delighted
Speaker 3: when they you know, kind of pulled the trigger and
Speaker 3: said we want to have a second season. And you know,
Speaker 3: our contract is for two seasons anyway, and so I
Speaker 3: was happy that they did in that direction, and we
Speaker 3: were having a great time shooting it. The writers did
Speaker 3: a brilliant, brilliant, store you know kind of job in
Speaker 3: writing it, because I thought, well, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: things I did not know when I got into this
Speaker 3: TV business, like, for instance, you know, the beginning the
Speaker 3: rating of the amount of people that watched the beginning
Speaker 3: of a series versus the amount of people that watched
Speaker 3: the end of a series. You know, the what is
Speaker 3: the completion rate and all of those kind of things.
Speaker 3: So I was always wondering, why did this series start slow?
Speaker 3: And then they kind of ramp it up, and you know,
Speaker 3: I've seen it on second at the second season. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's like, it starts out great, and he explains everything
Speaker 3: where we are and the action that the comedy noise,
Speaker 3: but all of a sudden towards the end, it really
Speaker 3: starts ramping up the amount of action days and I said,
Speaker 3: whoa boy, maybe there's a little bit too much, but
Speaker 3: I mean, any case, they did a fantastic job, and
Speaker 3: I was so happy to work with the same actors
Speaker 3: again as they worked in the in the first one,
Speaker 3: except Carrion Moss came to become part of the team
Speaker 3: and an odd love from decades ago, and she helped
Speaker 3: me bring down the Berlin Wall and to fight communism
Speaker 3: and all those kind of things. So that whole backed
Speaker 3: up story came back again. And of course now I'm
Speaker 3: having a dilemma with an old love and I'm, you know,
Speaker 3: have a wife that don want to gain back, and
Speaker 3: all of that going on in the midst of this huge,
Speaker 3: huge skill action in comedy.
Speaker 1: In the midst of all of that with you scheduled
Speaker 1: to turn seventy eight years of age, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: come late July July thirtieth, If I remember correctly, I mean,
Speaker 1: do how shocked are you at the success that you're
Speaker 1: having at this stage and point in your life and
Speaker 1: in your career you're missed the action you're drawing up
Speaker 1: true lives Jamie Lee Curtis. Let. Let's not forget how
Speaker 1: fabulous she was in that movie, and how fabulous of
Speaker 1: a movie it was overall. But I imagine that you
Speaker 1: had some reservations as whether or not you'd be able
Speaker 1: to achieve this level of success at this stage and
Speaker 1: point of your career. Yet and still you're here and
Speaker 1: you're doing it well.
Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3: You know, if you get older, then there is not
Speaker 3: as much interest in you as a major star than
Speaker 3: it is with the younger guys. And I benefited from
Speaker 3: Dedvan I was thirty, thirty five, forty fifty years old,
Speaker 3: and others are benefiting from that. So that's that's clear.
Speaker 3: But my kind of a you know, staying power has
Speaker 3: been because I think I chose wisely the kind of
Speaker 3: projects that I did, and that yes, there was a danger.
Speaker 3: And I think that's the point that you're hitting is
Speaker 3: not only the age, but I was governor for seven years,
Speaker 3: and those seven years I did not do a movie
Speaker 3: or a TV show or anything like this. So they
Speaker 3: were just in the replays of other shows that they've
Speaker 3: done in the past. And so it's very hard to
Speaker 3: then come back again after that. And by that time,
Speaker 3: also half of the people, you know, Republicans, half of Democrats.
Speaker 3: They say about who he was a Republican. I don't
Speaker 3: want to watch his show with orders.
Speaker 2: So he goes through all of that ords at the
Speaker 2: same time.
Speaker 3: But that the bottom line is is that I'm very
Speaker 3: fortunate that I was able to kind of come back
Speaker 3: after I was finished with the governorship and that I'm
Speaker 3: at the place where I'm now. But I have to
Speaker 3: tell you the main reason for this is that I'm
Speaker 3: in America. Because America still is the land of opportunity.
Speaker 3: It's the greatest country in the world. And no matter
Speaker 3: how many problems we have and how many kind of
Speaker 3: debates they are about leadership and this and that, and
Speaker 3: the you know, the Congress and the accomplishing everything and
Speaker 3: all of those kind of things, and the riots.
Speaker 2: I mean, it is the greatest country in the world.
Speaker 3: I just came from overseas and I had an environmental
Speaker 3: conference in Vienna, Okay. And people still that day come
Speaker 3: up to me and say, please, anold can you help
Speaker 3: me to get to America, just like it was fifty
Speaker 3: years ago and they asked me they can they help
Speaker 3: them to come to America. So, I mean the desire
Speaker 3: for people wanting to come here is because it is
Speaker 3: the greatest country with the most opportunities. And I've seen
Speaker 3: it firsthand. Everything that I've ever accomplished, because my movie career,
Speaker 3: which was my family, the money that I made and
Speaker 3: they're becoming governor of the great state of Curtiforia, the
Speaker 3: environmental action, the after school programstead that've created, my work
Speaker 3: with Special Olympics, all of this stuff happened because it
Speaker 3: was in America. And so I loved this country and
Speaker 3: I cannot wait to celebrate this two hundred and fiftieth anniversary.
Speaker 1: The feelings that you have that you just described about
Speaker 1: the United States of America, I imagine you have always
Speaker 1: felt that way, but has it elevated since you were governor.
Speaker 1: Like being a governor of a state as large as California,
Speaker 1: the United stated large state in the United States of America.
Speaker 1: Being a governor of that state for those years, did
Speaker 1: it make you elevate your level of appreciation for America
Speaker 1: even more so in the aftermath of being a governor
Speaker 1: than you had before you became governor.
Speaker 3: Well, I would say that, you know, I don't think
Speaker 3: that anything could elevate.
Speaker 2: Okay, my enthusiasm got it.
Speaker 3: About being in America since nine in sixty eight, since
Speaker 3: it came here, and I was so enthusiastic being here.
Speaker 3: Then in nineteen eighty three it became an American citizen,
Speaker 3: and that elevated it. Of course, now I am an American,
Speaker 3: so that was fantastic. When you become governor, it makes
Speaker 3: you realize since that didn't work my way up the
Speaker 3: political ladder. It makes you realize of how complicated things
Speaker 3: really are and how difficult it is really to work
Speaker 3: and to bring everyone together local government, state government, federal government.
Speaker 3: How you as a state could be kind of like
Speaker 3: an environmentally friendly state, but the federal government has no interest.
Speaker 2: So you have to understand that.
Speaker 3: You have to understand that not everyone can thank the
Speaker 3: way you do, and you have to appreciate that, and
Speaker 3: that's what that did. I worked with everyone together and
Speaker 3: never looked at anyone as the enemy, and I always
Speaker 3: was very inclusive. And it made this the capital of
Speaker 3: Sacramento kind of a university for me.
Speaker 2: I learned so much.
Speaker 3: And one thing I learned definitely is my interest in
Speaker 3: my love for policy, not so much so for politics,
Speaker 3: but for policy solving problems and how do we make
Speaker 3: life for people better.
Speaker 1: Now that you're back, you're out of office, you're no
Speaker 1: longer an elected official, You're back in Hollywood. Are you
Speaker 1: enjoying it now more than you did before?
Speaker 3: I love it, you know. But it's it's not just
Speaker 3: you know, doing fubar. It's not just being on a
Speaker 3: set of food and working with wonderful actors and actresses
Speaker 3: and all of that. It is that the whole combination
Speaker 3: of the movie business, TV business, the environmental work that
Speaker 3: I do, the after school broken work that I do.
Speaker 3: I make great, great family, I mean make kids. I'm
Speaker 3: so proud of them. And you know, yesterday my daughter
Speaker 3: came over with has three. We had three kids, and
Speaker 3: make grand children. Just love coming over the house and
Speaker 3: feeding the animals and Lulu and whiskey, my donkey.
Speaker 2: You know, the.
Speaker 3: Dogs, okay, you know, and the pig, and I mean
Speaker 3: they just love coming over and doing all of that
Speaker 3: with me, and so they love their Opah.
Speaker 2: That's what they call me Opah.
Speaker 1: Right, How do you feel about doing TV? Because this
Speaker 1: is your first ever TV role. You've been doing movies
Speaker 1: all of these years, but to my understanding, is your
Speaker 1: first TV role.
Speaker 3: Correct, it is the first TV series, and it is
Speaker 3: quite different because you work much faster, so you don't
Speaker 3: have much time. You know, in the movies, you maybe
Speaker 3: shoot three to four pages a day. When you do
Speaker 3: a TV it's like seven, eight, nine pages a day,
Speaker 3: sometimes even ten to twelve pages a day. So it
Speaker 3: really moves much faster because there's not as big of
Speaker 3: a budget as it is with movies.
Speaker 2: But I mean it's okay. You get used to that.
Speaker 3: You get very disciplined to learn your lines and to.
Speaker 2: Hit the mark. That is the most important thing in
Speaker 2: this business.
Speaker 3: You know, to me is kind of like listen to
Speaker 3: the director, listen to the writers, and hit your marks
Speaker 3: and say your dialogue and then work, work, work. I
Speaker 3: feel like when I do like a movie, I feel
Speaker 3: like I'm a plumber get up in the morning at
Speaker 3: six o'clock in the morning and they go to work
Speaker 3: and they do exactly what they ask me to do.
Speaker 3: And then they go home at night and you crash
Speaker 3: in bed, or you go and have some time to
Speaker 3: work out a little bit, because fitness is working out
Speaker 3: is very important. But I tell you it is if
Speaker 3: this doesn't matter how old you are. If you have
Speaker 3: a clear vision of making something successful and being involved
Speaker 3: in a great project like this Netflix project is fuba.
Speaker 3: I mean, then you're enthusiastic about the whole thing. You
Speaker 3: have energy, and you to go out there and promoted.
Speaker 3: Like sitting here right now and talking to you. It's
Speaker 3: another job for me, right, It's fun for me. I
Speaker 3: love talking about you, about that to you, about my
Speaker 3: projects and about food and off those kind of things.
Speaker 3: So some people consider this as a job and part
Speaker 3: of the job. I don't even see that the job.
Speaker 3: I can see that as a fun thing to do.
Speaker 1: I always tell people the difference between the job and
Speaker 1: a career is a job is doing what you have
Speaker 1: to do to sustain or elevate your quality of life.
Speaker 1: A career is doing what you want to do. It
Speaker 1: just so happens to do those things, and you're talking
Speaker 1: about a career. And by the way, football, I mean,
Speaker 1: I got to talk to you about the title of
Speaker 1: this show. Now, it's originally you know, the acronym originated
Speaker 1: in the military, which stands for a situation that is
Speaker 1: f up beyond all recognition? Is that what food ball
Speaker 1: stands for with the title of this show or is
Speaker 1: there another?
Speaker 3: Yes, fuber stands for fucked up beyond all recognition?
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, Yes, yeah, it did you.
Speaker 3: I know you cannot say it then because otherwise you
Speaker 3: get crucified.
Speaker 4: Oh, I say fucked up beyond all recognition? I just
Speaker 4: said it, like you. Did you come up with it?
Speaker 4: Did you come up with the title?
Speaker 2: I suggested?
Speaker 3: And the I think everyone liked the idea because they
Speaker 3: isn't originally a different title, and then they went for
Speaker 3: it with this title.
Speaker 2: And it's just such a great thing. I'm fuba.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just fun because everywhere you go in
Speaker 3: the world when you promote this thing, people always ask
Speaker 3: is what does it mean?
Speaker 2: What does mean?
Speaker 3: Then I tell them what it means, and then they
Speaker 3: try to translate it in their own language.
Speaker 2: Of course, then it doesn't work. The same way.
Speaker 3: But I mean, that's what it means that the other
Speaker 3: thing that makes the show success for reason, I just
Speaker 3: want this add that is which is maybe a term
Speaker 3: you don't know either or that you maybe don't know,
Speaker 3: and that is, uh the seventh piece.
Speaker 1: Okay, you know, but the seven I do not educate me.
Speaker 2: Please.
Speaker 3: Proper proper prior planning prevents pissed poor performance. Okay, okay,
Speaker 3: So that is very important because this show was really
Speaker 3: well written. This show was very well prepared, and that
Speaker 3: is the most important thing. Is did you go there
Speaker 3: for the arsals, did you work in the stunts, did
Speaker 3: you working all the magic stuff? Did you see on
Speaker 3: the screen? And then you go all out with that.
Speaker 3: But it's the proper prior planning that prevents pissed poor performance.
Speaker 1: You know. Last question. I'm thinking about this now and
Speaker 1: I'm asking myself Arnold Schwarzenegger, an elite bodybuilder, world class athlete,
Speaker 1: and action hero, on what have you? You're approaching your
Speaker 1: seventy eighth birthday and you seem like you can go
Speaker 1: on and on, like you've got so much time left
Speaker 1: because you got so much energy. What's your advice to
Speaker 1: those out there who are younger who haven't achieved as
Speaker 1: much yet walk around far too often acting like they're tired.
Speaker 1: What would you say to those folks about what they
Speaker 1: need to do to get a little spry in this
Speaker 1: step to be as energized as Arnold Swarzenegger appears to
Speaker 1: do as he's talking about his Netflix hit series Football
Speaker 1: right here with your boy, stephen A. Smith, what advice
Speaker 1: would you give Ziemen?
Speaker 3: I tell you one thing, and I think you talked
Speaker 3: about that many times, and that is the only way
Speaker 3: you can have energy is when you have a vision.
Speaker 3: Because when you have a vision, that means that you
Speaker 3: have a specific goal that you want to go and
Speaker 3: chase after. And so everything that you do basically is
Speaker 3: a step closer to discord and making discord a reality.
Speaker 3: And so to me, when I was working out in
Speaker 3: the gym five hours a day, I didn't say to myself,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I cannot wait until I have my
Speaker 3: fifty or five hundred sit ups over. Oh my god,
Speaker 3: I have to do another set of lived with five hundred.
Speaker 2: And fifty pounds or six hundred pounds. I didn't do
Speaker 2: any of that.
Speaker 3: I was looking forward to every single rep and every
Speaker 3: exercise that I did because it got me one step
Speaker 3: closer to this vision I had of being missed the
Speaker 3: universe being the world champion in body building. And the
Speaker 3: same was also the case with acting. When everyone said
Speaker 3: you would never be an actor, you would never be
Speaker 3: a leading man, I was fighting and fighting because either
Speaker 3: clear vision of being another cleaned Eastwood or another one
Speaker 3: of the Hercules characters in the movies or something like that.
Speaker 3: So there's no one could shine me away from that.
Speaker 3: So that guy gave me energy. The same is when
Speaker 3: I had a vision about what to do with California
Speaker 3: and I ran for governor, I could really talk to
Speaker 3: the people, you know, very openly and clearly about what
Speaker 3: I wanted to do with California, and they bought in
Speaker 3: because it was very clear and because.
Speaker 2: I had a very clear vision.
Speaker 3: So I think this is it's all about the vision,
Speaker 3: because the vision makes you have a purpose and a goal,
Speaker 3: and then you chase after that. So no matter how
Speaker 3: your old you are, as long as your a vision,
Speaker 3: you're gonna be in the red track and you always
Speaker 3: have energy.
Speaker 1: I just want to let you know it's such an
Speaker 1: honor and privilege to have been talking to you I've
Speaker 1: been a fan for many, many years. True Lives is
Speaker 1: one of my all time favorite movies. I love total recall. Oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, are you ready for this? One of
Speaker 1: my favorites. Almost as crazy to say everybody talks about
Speaker 1: terminated terminator. Terminator. You know another movie of yours. I
Speaker 1: loved Kindergarten Cop. I loved that one. You're telling you
Speaker 1: a school teacher for crid out loud. You know what,
Speaker 1: I'm massperated the school teacher. I've loved you for years
Speaker 1: and I can't thank you enough. And this Netflix series
Speaker 1: Football is special. It's got that kind of potential. I
Speaker 1: really like it. I really enjoy it, and I'm honored
Speaker 1: to have had you on the show man. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: It was a great pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: All Right, buddy, you take care of yourself. The one
Speaker 1: and only Arnold Schwarzenegger right here on a Stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smith Show. You can catch the season two premiere of
Speaker 1: Football June twelfth on Netflix. I know I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: miss it. I watched all the episodes from season one. Y'all.
Speaker 1: It's a hell of a show. It's a hell of
Speaker 1: a show. M h m hm