Be it fight scenes or stunt scenes – Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for playing a lot of them by himself. Also termed as the ‘Action God’ by fans for the same, the former professional bodybuilder has given the cinema some highly remarkable content, including his thrilling action sequences Terminator movie series as well as his 1994 action/comedy, True Lies. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger
In fact, doing this one stunt scene in the $378 million classic by himself had the film’s producer in a nerve-wracking situation as director James Cameron ditched the green screen for it, but Schwarzenegger successfully ended up easing the former’s nerves with his one comment.

 

James Cameron Had Arnold Schwarzenegger Shoot True Lies’ Climax For Real

James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jamie Lee Curtis on the sets of True Lies (1994)
 

While Arnold Schwarzenegger is renowned for being brave enough to shoot his action sequences himself, director James Cameron is renowned for playing with danger if that’s what it takes to make the scene look real. And that’s exactly what he did for True Lies’ climax scene.

Since the green screen neither provides too much space for actors to move around nor allows them to interact with their environment, thus, the filmmaker had the Terminator star shoot the $378 million classic’s end stunt scene in real life, where he rescues his daughter after fighting the villain from the Harrier jet’s cockpit.

Sharing the entire experience while determining how to shoot the scene in reality, Cameron said,
“When you move out of the clinical laboratory environment of a soundstage, you’re subject to all the forces of nature: Wind, rain, overcast, changing light during the day. One we didn’t really think of, which was lightning, except that we went down there to scout the location, and we went up on the roof and there were lightning rods every 6 feet all the way around the roof. We went, ‘Hmm.’ Things that make you go hmm.”
Thus was an actual scale model of a Harrier jet, created using a combination of cranes and rigs, hoisted high up in the air over an actual street in Miami. Controlled by a computerized motion-control system, this 7000-pound jet was pushed around on a gigantic system of hydraulics. Just for a scene in a movie. Crazy, right?

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Comment Eased Producer John Bruno’s Nerves

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a still from the climax scene of True Lies (1994)
While the director was overjoyed on the one hand with his remarkable achievement in shooting a scene, the producer, John Bruno, found himself in a nervous wreck on the other hand because no project had ever been carried out on such a massive scale – both complex and expensive – before. However, one word from Arnold Schwarzenegger and his nerves were put to rest. He shared,

“Well at first everybody was kind of nervous because of the scale of this whole thing. It was a 20,000-pound motion base and 7,000-pound jet on the top of a roof with these huge hydraulic systems, you know, spinning around and moving around. [Then] I overheard Arnold [Schwarzengger] say to Jim [Cameron], he goes, ‘You know, Jim, this is the money.’ I mean, he’s sitting in the jet, ‘This is the money. This is where the money is. This is great.’ I overheard that, and that sort of relaxed me, because I was, like, stressed a little bit.”
Regardless, True Lies became one of the biggest hits as soon as its release, marking the beginning of a bolder and slicker action sequence of its era, along with getting nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects among 8 other wins and 22 other nominations.

You can stream True Lies on Philo.

Source: YouTube