Repost: Schwarzenegger & ‘Core Fanbase’ Hypocrisy

[In light of recent developments with Terminator: Genisys, here is last year’s article, on Schwarzenegger’s conveniently altering ideas on best customers.]

Years ago, I thought about opening and running a Bruce Willis website.  Since there were websites for other big action stars, I thought an icon like Willis deserved to have his place on the internet.  But I thought better of it, especially considering how often Willis approaches douche bag territory.  I didn’t want to create an online shrine for someone who may well one day go too far – then I’d be stuck with a website for somebody I really didn’t like.

Couple of years later I decided to run a website covering a broader spectrum, not devoted to any one person or genre.  Or movie, for that matter.  I’m not someone who ‘rallies to defend’ some big name in their hour of need, when said person preaches one thing one day and another on another day. I don’t get how people can blindly devote themselves to one famous person, that kind of thing isn’t my style.  And nobody who writes for ManlyMovie.net kisses ass of any actor like a Bieber fangirl after they’ve shown two faces.  That’s sad and just a little pathetic.

Here, shit gets called like it is.

Which leads me to Arnold Schwarzenegger.  When Arnold Schwarzenegger had a book to sell, he beat his chest about how he stands against PG-13.  In this book, here is what he says on the matter:

Arnold relays his opinion of a decision to make Conan the Destroyer a family movie:  “Somebody actually calculated that if Conan the Barbarian was rated PG instead of R, it would have sold 50 percent more tickets”.  Arnold said that this was unacceptable.  “The hard-core fans would be upset.  You have to satisfy your best customers first.”  Arnold then went to the studio and let rip: “”You are wimping out,” I told them. “Maybe you should get out of the business if you are embarrassed about the violence or what the character represents.  Don’t go and make it something it is not.”  It was no use”

So how curious it is now to see Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in what will likely be two consecutive PG-13 movies.  The Expendables 3 seems to present somewhat of a sea change in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s opinion of that core fan base.  I find it unlikely that Schwarzenegger did not know that The Expendables 3 would be PG-13.  In fact, he may even have been told The Expendables 2 would likely be PG-13 when approached about doing that movie.  Yes, perhaps that is when it started.  But, even if nobody told him, the man purporting to consider it extremely important in his book should’ve asked.  Doesn’t satisfying his best customers first no longer matter?

It probably will not end with The Expendables 3.  ‘Terminator‘ will likely be PG-13 too, that’s my surmise. And Arnold Schwarzenegger, if he has signed onto a PG-13 Terminator movie, sure is contradicting thoughts he wrote in his book, a stance that has apparently changed;

“I was suspicious that the studio was pulling back and trying to turn The Terminator into something rated PG.”  It was then Jim Cameron who put Arnold’s T2 fears to rest.  “The killing was still there, but it was done by the T-1000.  As soon as I understood that the movie was going to stay R-Rated, I relaxed.”

I’ll tell you what the problem here is.  Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone want to stay relevant at any cost.  Kinda like when John Wayne had a bruised ego and got desperate when Clint Eastwood came on the scene.  He risked his dignity.  With these guys today, it’s not about money, as some people are alleging.  It’s about a lust for box office appeal.  To hell with the core fan base, who Sylvester Stallone consulted when trying to forge a comeback, but hasn’t spoken to since.  And not for Schwarzenegger either. Is it that Schwarzenegger couldn’t give a damn about the core fan base and has made a hypocrite out of himself?  It looks that way.

Now if you want to talk about supporting men of the action genre who deserve it.  Yes, I can do that.  I will give you two words: John McTiernan.  With his next movie, he’s not selling out.  His house is facing foreclosure yet still he plays hardball with the studio just to get it right how he wants it.  John McTiernan, a man I don’t recall Arnold Schwarzenegger saying shit about during his imprisonment, is a man who deserves ManlyMovie’s support.  Not men dealing with ego problems and certainly not grown men who follow them who act like 14 year olds.

So, bottom line is, perhaps The Expendables 3 will be R-rated.  Perhaps Terminator will be too.  And if that is the case, I will repost this article and admit that I was wrong about Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I doubt it though.  I think Arnold is a hypocrite.  You could even call him a “traitor”… [Editor’s note, this is what a certain website labelled ManlyMovie when we critisized EX3 for being PG-13, but then later Stallone himself pretty much agreed.  Fanboys, eh?] no, wait, that would contradict the very point of the article.  That be laughable.  Schwarzenegger is just another man, not immune to criticism.

Am I done with Schwarzenegger?  No, just pointing out his fallacy with these upcoming movies. Is this a studio-friendly article?  Is it an article that’ll win set visits?  I don’t think so.  But I don’t give a fuck, because there’s a core fan base to cater to…