Highlights - ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Athlete, Actor, American, Activist - Conversation with Editor DIAN HANSON

Interviewed by Mia Funk

Why I was different from all the other boys in my town I cannot tell you. I was simply born with the gift of vision.

– ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Is there any better example of the American Dream than Arnold Schwarzenegger? What does it take to make your vision a reality? How do you cultivate iron focus to overcome any obstacle and realize your dreams?

On the publication of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s limited edition two-volume book published by TASCHEN, we sat down with Senior Editor and Writer Dian Hansen to discuss Schwarzenegger’s life, accomplishments, and history of unforgettable performances. The book has been a decade-long collaborative process and along with portraits by leading photographers Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, Francesco Scavullo, and Andy Warhol, it is also filled with photos from Arnold’s private archive and exclusive interviews. Dian’s other works include The Art of Pin-up, Masterpieces of Fantasy Art, and The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

As charismatic as he is, he used to be shy when he was growing up. And you show his connection with animals and the natural world. Could you describe where Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up because it was a very rural, very quiet place.

DIAN HANSON on ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

It's not just that he grew up in a rural environment too. He was born on July 30th, 1947. And most of us today don't have any understanding or relationship to what Europe was like right after World War II. The winter of 1946/1947 in Austria was the most brutal in decades. The people already had too little food. They were in an occupied country.

The summer potato crops failed. As Arnold has said, his mother had to go from farm to farm to farm, begging for food to be able to feed her children. His father, like all the men in the village, was defeated by the war. I mean, they were not just defeated by their side losing, but realizing what their side had stood for, that they were the bad guys.

And he saw them all physically, emotionally, intellectually defeated and taking it out on their wives and children, that he was beaten and his mother was beaten. All the neighbor kids were beaten, and they were beaten into a kind of placid defeat. And he alone would not accept that. He could not see that life for himself.

And he was, as a child, searching for ways to get out of that. And bodybuilding became that when he learned about bodybuilding as a very poor boy. They lived on the top floor of a house. They had no plumbing. They all bathed once a week in the same tub in the kitchen. And his brother and he had to bring the water in. His mother heated it, and they took baths one by one. Mother first, father second, older brother third, Arnold last in the tub of dirty water. And so he wanted out of that. And as a poor boy, he had nothing but his body to work with. That was it. There was not going to be any college. There was not going to be any of that. There was going to be some kind of menial job, or he could use what he had - his body - to get him out of there.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER IN VENICE, CALIFORNIA. PHOTO BY ALBERT BUSEK, 1980

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Regarding his acting career - a lot of people think of him as being a strong man - but he also has these comic turns as well in films like Twins, and is a storyteller. So he plays against his attributes to bring out this other side. Twins was one of his biggest films.

HANSON on SCHWARZENEGGER

He and Danny DeVito and director Ivan Reitman, who also wrote the film, were willing to work for free and just take a percentage of the profits. They were able to get the film made. They had to fight with the studios to produce that film. And the only way that the studio agreed to produce Twins was when they said, "We will not take any salary. We will do this movie for free. We will just take a little percentage of the profits." And the studio thought, Okay, it's going to be a very cheap film to make. No special effects. No stunt people. It's going to be very cheap and easy. These guys, these idiots are going to do it for free.

And everyone involved has made more money off that film than any other film. Arnold, actually, for all the high, high prices that he got for his late Terminator films, he still has made more money off Twins because of taking a percentage.

Arnold Schwarzenegger posing exhibition at California Hall, San Francisco.
Photo by Max Aguilera-Hellweg, 1975

Arnold Schwarzenegger for the film End of Days. Sante D'Orazio, 1999 (Copy) (Copy) (Copy)

Arnold-Schwarzenegger-_ce_gb_v1_open001_000_000_x_03105_2306011235_id_1426676ST.jpg

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

It's just hard to take in all the larger-than-life aspects of Arnold's life. In your conversations for this book which you worked on for over 10 years - and through the extensive archives, where we get to see wonderful photographs from some of the best photographers, in the world - what did you come away with that surprised you about Arnold Schwarzenegger?

HANSON on SCHWARZENEGGER

I was really familiar with Arnold through bodybuilding. I became a weight trainer myself after meeting him at the 1981 Mr. Olympia contest, but I largely knew him through his movies like everyone else.

And when you see him in the movies, he's famous for these very short one-liners that make it seem as if he is nonverbal, that he's not particularly intelligent. You don't get his humor. The first time I went to Arnold's house, I saw that this man is the greatest storyteller, the greatest entertainer ever.

He is funny, he is witty, he is quick. He can tell a story like no one else, and not just tell it, he would act it out. He would get up and stomp around and make noises with his mouth. He told me a simple story about a woman in the gym who was not working out, who was just sitting on a bench and talking on the phone to her friend and eating a bag of potato chips. And he was able to replicate the sound of eating potato chips just with his mouth. He is underappreciated. I guess that's what it is. And as I started going through his archive, I saw that there are certain photographs that show him and his facial expressions like none other. And those photographs are always when he is interacting with children or interacting with animals and all pretense drops away. His face just lights up. It is real, it is genuine, it is open. And that's something that I tried to include as much as possible, particularly in the small book that is more personal, to show that human, affectionate, warm side of Arnold.

Arnold Schwarzenegger with cigar · Photo by Greg Gorman, 1985

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

It's really a work of archeology and archiving. And that film Pumping Iron was also seminal because it really put bodybuilding on the map. Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger on the map.

HANSON on SCHWARZENEGGER

Ben Weider said Arnold Schwarzenegger was what made bodybuilding straight. He was so exuberantly heterosexual that people could say, "Oh, this is something a straight guy could do and it could actually attract women." And it just opened the whole thing up. Arnold said very early on, he vowed that there were going to be more gyms than supermarkets across the US, and he pretty much achieved that. You know, you go to a hotel, there's a gym, you go to the hospital, there's a gym. All these things came from Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Arnold as Conan the Barbarian on the Tree of Woe
Photo by Bob Penn, Universal Studios Licensing LLC, 1981

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

As a politician, he had an inbuilt slogan: "I'll be back." He's still very strong as an activist. What do you feel his legacy is?

HANSON on SCHWARZENEGGER

The really important thing that he did here had to do with climate change. He told me that he had always been interested in the environment. He grew up being very cautious about everything. You don't waste water, you don't waste power, all these things as a poor child. But he said he didn't really understand what pollution was doing until he became governor. And he got all the memos, he got all the information that is fed to politicians, that is fed to every politician. That everyone in office knows about, and many choose to ignore, but for him, it really opened his eyes. And he said, "We can't let this go on." So he initiated a greenhouse gas cap in California, and people fought against it. Are you kidding? It has continued to this day. People have gotten behind him for it, that we will reduce emissions, and we will have cleaner air in California, and we will have cleaner water, and we will have cleaner beaches.

Governor Schwarzenegger with the Lincoln Memorial · Photo by Peter Grigsby, 2009

He blocked offshore drilling and he said, because when he first came here, there had been an oil spill, and he went on the beach, and he got tar on his feet. No one should have to have tar on their feet when they go to the beach. And that was his real contribution that has now led to his activism for climate change and ending pollution all over the world.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lulu at his Los Angeles home · Photo by Tracy Nguyen, 2021

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

California, under Arnold's leadership, has really led the way. It's one of the world's largest economies, and so what happens there has this ripple effect. And regarding the environment, it's not about Left or Right, Democrat, Republican, you have to come together on this. So Arnold is really a unifying figure in that sense that you can relate to some of his policies, whether you're from the Left or Right. We need to come together on the climate.

HANSON on SCHWARZENEGGER

As Arnold says, "We don't have Republican air. We don't have Democrat water. We all breathe the same air. We all have the same water. It's happening to all of us, and it's happening all over the world. And if we just continue to ignore it so that we can put some money in our pockets, or we can get reelected, what are we leaving for the future?" And you know, his devotion to children and to helping children makes him look at it from a different perspective. He's not one of these heartless old politicians who's just like, well, as long as it doesn't happen while I'm alive, I'm going to get rich off of this. He is always thinking of the next generations. He is always thinking of what he is going to be able to hand down.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

I think Taschen is the only publisher who create a book like this, just in terms of the visual delight and extensive archiving, it’s a perfect marriage of presentation and material.

HANSON on SCHWARZENEGGER

Benedikt Taschen, like myself, like Arnold, is a man without formal education. Benedikt started his business when he was 18 years old and opened a comic book store. He had been buying and selling trading comic books since the age of 15. He made the money himself to open a comic book store and then went into publishing right after that. And I said, "Benedikt, when did you have time to go to college?" And he said, "There was no time. I did not go." And so people are tempted to call people like Benedikt, to call people like Arnold, to call people like me, self-made. But we are obviously not self-made. We are determined, and we use our determination to bring other people into our dream and our motivation to accomplish what we want. And so Taschen sees in Arnold himself and his own determination he sees in me, himself, and his determination. And so we all come together in that, you know, let's celebrate somebody that most people would not imagine was an art book subject. This has been Taschen all along. Oh, they make sex books. You know, that's not art. Well, Benedikt Taschen said to me at the time when he hired me, and he was trying to hire me since 1994, I said, "Well, you know, I made porn magazines. Am I going to have to change everything I do to make art books?" And he said, no.

He said, "I'm hiring you because I like what you do. We make good books. We put good art in our books. We put good sex material in our books. We do not put bad art in our books. We do not put bad sex material in our books. We do it good, and then it's art. And that is what we have done all along.” If you think Arnold is just some muscle guy, well go look in the book. Go see how Annie Leibovitz envisioned him. Go see how Robert Mapplethorpe saw him. Go see how Andy Warhol saw him. Go see how Herb Ritts saw him. He was inspiration for all of these people.

Dian Hanson

This interview was conducted by Mia Funk with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Associate Interviews Producer on this episode was Zachary Liu-Walter.

Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process & One Planet Podcast (Conversations about Climate Change & Environmental Solutions).

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Founding Member of Climate Change AI
AI Researcher & Climate Lead · Hugging Face

My work is really about figuring out how, right now, AI is using resources like energy and emitting greenhouse gases and how it's using our data without our consent. I feel that if we develop AI systems that are more respectful, ethical, and sustainable, we can help future generations so that AI will be less of a risk to society. The way I got into this field was working on the environmentally beneficial applications of AI, and I do believe that that's an impactful way of using AI techniques because there's so much data about the climate, satellite data, and sensor data, and the way to go about this is to work with domain experts. AI is never going to solve the problem on its own, but it can be a tool. So I think that there's a lot of promise there.

DR. SHIV SOMESHWAR

Fmr. European Chair for Sustainable Development & Climate Transition · Sciences Po
Development Clinician focused on Cities & Nation States

How do you have economic growth that is socially equitable and environmentally sustainable? It's not just that you have ecological sustainability; hence, that is sustainable development. Because lots of examples of economic, ecological, and ecologically sensitive growth need not be socially equitable. That's why this whole emphasis on just transition is not just about climate, but it's also about justice. It's about social equity in economic growth. Unlike in Europe, where there is now the call for degrowth or a circular economy, most parts of the world would look at you blankly if you talked about degrowth because they are hungry for growth. And so sustainable development is about managing these trade-offs.

From Ancient Wisdom to the Language of the Earth

Scientists, Artists, Psychologists & Spiritual Leaders Share their Stories and insights on the importance of connecting with nature, preserving the environment, embracing diversity, and finding harmony in the world.

JAY JORDAN & ISABELLE FRÉMEAUX

Artists, Activists & Anarchists Seize Wetlands from the French Republic
Authors of We are ‘Nature’ Defending Itself: Entangling Art, Activism and Autonomous Zones
the story of a 40-year struggle to preserve 4,000 acres of wetlands from being destroyed to make way for an airport

DOUG LARSON

Award-winning Scientist · Ecologist · Professor Emeritus · University of Guelph
Author of Cliff Ecology · The Urban Cliff Revolution · The Dogma At My Homework

I think one thing I learned from looking at the ancient trees is that there is no great benefit to anything of growing quickly and accumulating vast resources. Growing slowly and patiently and with fewer demands on the environment in which you live is just as healthy and perhaps more healthy than the endless hunger for more and more and more, which we see as a characteristic of our species.

THOMAS CROWTHER

Ecologist · Founder of Restor
Co-chair of the Board for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Global restoration really means finding and empowering the millions of local communities, indigenous populations, and farmers who are promoting biodiversity. Restor is a digital platform, sort of like Google Maps, but for restoration. So rather than seeing coffee shops and supermarkets, you will see conservation projects and Indigenous-led restoration initiatives. And that means you can find a currently on Restor - I think we have around 140, 000 - so you can go on there for free right now and find thousands and thousands of these amazing heroes of nature. And you can zoom in and you can see every single tree on the ground. You can see every bush and you can fund them or you can buy their coffee or you can go visit their projects and do ecotourism. There's a myriad of ways that we can all support their efforts by also improving our own lives.

We need to be cutting our emissions so that we can allow nature to thrive and help us along the way. For far too long people have been squabbling about emissions. We should do this or we should do that. Climate change is way too big for us to be squabbling about things. We need to do everything now. When we grow the same crops every year, the soil gets more depleted and all the nutrients are lost. I've heard quotes that if we cannot find agricultural systems that rejuvenate the soil instead of depleting it, we are signing our death warrant. It's like we need to be promoting healthy soils if we're going to have any agriculture in the future.

PETER D. DITLEVSEN

Professor of Physics, Ice, Climate & Earth at the Niels Bohr Institute

What happens if we lose the Greenland ice sheet and pass the tipping points and Earth systems shut down?

If that shuts down, roughly speaking, the climate of Northern Europe would be like the climate of Alaska. So, climate models that actually simulate what happens when it's shut down, would say that England becomes like Northern Norway, which means that food security and things like that will be threatened because you cannot grow many crops in Northern Norway. And other models say precipitation changes, so places that are wet might become dry, and so on. So, these are of course severe consequences for Europe, but in some sense, this is going in the opposite direction of global warming. We're all talking about we're getting into a warmer world, but I'm talking about a cooling here. But the warm water that does not then flow from the tropics into the North Atlantic will stay in the tropics. And there, you're not contra-balancing global warming. There you will have the heating on top of the global warming. And that I see as maybe the largest problem we have is that the tropics become even warmer. And we have to realize if you live in a place where mean temperatures are maybe late thirties Celsius and or rise to the forties livelihood becomes very difficult.

DR. BARRY SCHWARTZ

Psychologist · Author of Why We Work
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

In 2004, the internet was just getting started in a major league way, and already the choice overload was a problem. I would say that from the modern perspective, 2004 seems like the 18th century, and as near as I can tell, all of these changes, every single one of them has made the problem substantially worse. The idea that you can get information to help guide you through - well, yeah, but what information do you believe? What's trustworthy? What's being motivated by an opportunity to sell you something? So there is a haze, there is this fog that we're operating in. And I think we just sort of give up in resignation and look at recommendations and hope that they're legitimate because how else do you get through the day?

KOHEI SAITO

Author of Slow Down! How Degrowth Communism Can Save the World
Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism

The Green New Deal presents itself as a kind of radical policy. If you look at the content, it's just simply the continuation of what capitalism wants to do. It's a massive investment in new, allegedly green industries, with the creation of more jobs with higher wages, but these are not the things that socialists or any environmentalists should be actually seeking because we recognize that capitalism is basically the root cause of the climate crisis and the misery of the workers. If so, I think it is high time to imagine something radically very different from business-as-usual capitalism.

The Long Tradition of American Jewish Critiques of Israel & Their Suppression

American Jews were interested and involved in Palestinian rights all the way back to 1948. There's this idea that it came about just now or in the 1970s, but actually as long as there's been a Nakba. As long as there's been Palestinian refugees, there’s been American Jews concerned with that, too. I would say that a lot of times these American Jews were very well informed and spent time in the region, and they came to these conclusions often not in the United States, but over there where they were talking to the Israeli left and meeting Palestinians and seeing a situation that they don't feel is ethical or sustainable.

BEN FRANTA

Founding Head of the Climate Litigation Lab
Senior Research Fellow at University of Oxford’s Sustainable Law Programme

For 40 years, the American Petroleum Institute has hired economists to argue it would be too expensive to try and control fossil fuels and that climate change wasn't that bad. The same go-to consultancy firm has been involved in every major climate policy fight from the very beginning and hired by the fossil fuel industry, but what are the courts going to do? It's not just the historical deception. It's an ongoing deception.

MICHAEL STICKA

President/CEO of the GRAMMY Museum

It's actually right in our mission statement that “we celebrate the music of yesterday and today to inspire the music of tomorrow.” And we do it through our exhibits. We have 35,000 square feet of galleries. We travel exhibits, really, all over the world over the world for the past 15 years. And through our education programs, we really focus on the next generation of music's creators and leaders. We do that through really specific curricula that is designed to educate particularly young people, K-12, about the business of music, especially for those who want to go into the industry.

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