Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story

Movie Photographs

^{When people come to me with a movie concept or a script, I always ask, “What is the poster? What is the image? What are we trying to sell here?”}

^{I starred in Hercules in New York in 1969, but the producer went broke before the movie could be released. Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images}

^{Seven years later I got a supporting part in director Bob Rafelson’s Stay Hungry, for which I won a Golden Globe (that’s Raquel Welch I’m hoisting in celebration). Frank Edwards / Getty Images}

^{Jeff Bridges, who starred, was generous with acting tips. Courtesy of MGM Media Licensing}

^{When we promoted Pumping Iron at the Cannes Film Festival in 1977, George Butler had the idea of dressing cabaret girls from the Crazy Horse in Paris in frilly dresses and bonnets to pose with me on the beach. Keystone / Getty Images}

^{I jumped at the chance to work with Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret in the Western spoof The Villain. The name of my character was “Handsome Stranger.” © The Villain Company. All rights reserved.}

On ^{the set of Conan the Barbarian in Spain we created a vivid and violent prehistoric world. Above, the fighting pit in which young Conan slaughters his way out of slavery. Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, LLC}

^{I broiled in the hot sun while I was crucified on the Tree of Woe. Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, LLC}

^{Director John Milius, who loved stogies as much as me, was fanatical that the fantasy be accurate in every detail. Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, LLC}

In 1983, before heading to Mexico to shoot Conan the Destroyer, I celebrated becoming a U.S. citizen. Michael Montfort / interTOPICS

^{Why eat all alone in your personal trailer when you can hang out with the crew and cast? Above, it’s chowtime on location in Mexico for Conan the Destroyer. Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, LLC}

^{Wilt Chamberlain, who played the treacherous Bombaata, and Andre the Giant, who played the evil beast god Dagoth, give me the unusual sensation of being the little guy. Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, LLC}

^{As the Terminator, I worked on selling the idea that I was a machine that can’t be bargained with, can’t be reasoned with, doesn’t feel pity, remorse, or fear, and will not stop, ever, until its target is dead. Courtesy of MGM Media Licensing}

^{The scene in the makeup trailer is sometimes even weirder than what shows up onscreen. Schwarzenegger Archive}

^{Preparations for the Terminator’s do-it-yourself forearm and eyeball repairs. Schwarzenegger Archive}

^{I visited the Vatican with Maria and her parents in 1983 for a private audience with Pope John Paul II. To him, besides religion, life was about taking care of both your mind and your body. So we talked about his workouts. Schwarzenegger Archive}

^{After the sacrifices she’d made to raise my brother and me, I wanted my mother to have a rich life. Here I’ve brought her to meet President Reagan at a state dinner at the White House in 1986. Official White House photo}

^{Milton Berle became my comedy mentor. He’d encourage me by saying, “You being funny with your accent is twice as big a deal as me being funny. They expect me to be funny!” Schwarzenegger Archive}

^{The great Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal himself helped me force a retraction when a London tabloid called me a neo-Nazi in 1988. Art Waldinger/ Tru-Dimension Co.}

^{I helped Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush in his successful bid for the presidency in 1988. Here we prepare speeches between campaign stops aboard Air Force Two. Official White House photo}

^{Economist Milton Friedman, whom I got to know in his retirement, had a profound influence on my political philosophy. George T. Kruse}

^{It took just five years after the premiere of Conan the Barbarian for me to earn the ultimate Hollywood validation, a star on the Walk of Fame. Michael Montfort / interTOPICS}

^{My political mentor, Fredi Gerstl, is a Jew who joined the resistance in World War II and ended up president of the Austrian parliament. Schwarzenegger Archive}

^{Less than forty-eight hours before Maria and I were due to be married in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, I was covered with mud in a Mexican jungle shooting Predator. © 1987 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.}

^{Danny DeVito is a master of comedy, loves stogies, and cooks pasta on the set—no wonder he made such a great twin. Schwarzenegger Archive}

^{Paul Verhoeven directs Sharon Stone and me for the scene in Total Recall in which my character loses his illusions about his marriage. StudioCanal}