Arnold Schwarzenegger on why he screwed up every take of the FUBAR puppet scene
From the executive producer and showrunner Nick Santora (Prison breakout), Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his debut in the streaming series as the lead actor FUBAR, which is now streaming on Netflix. Opposite co-star Monica Barbara (Top Gun: Maverick), the two play a father-daughter duo who discover they have more in common than just genetics when they discover they both work for the CIA. In an interview with Collider’s Steve WeintraubSchwarzenegger teases the series, promising fans will get “the entire inventory” of Arnolds with the adventure comedy.
In the eight-part series, in which also plays the main role Jay Baruchel, Fabiana Udenio, Travis Van WinkleAnd Adam PallyCIA agent Luke Brunner (Schwarzenegger) can finally retire and focus on his family. Intended to spend time with his daughter Emma (Barbaro) and win back the love of his life, his ex-wife Tally (Udenio), Luke is called back on one final mission. For this final assignment, he must rescue a colleague codenamed Panda, but when he finds out Panda is Emma, the father and daughter realize they still have a lot to learn from each other.
During their interview, which you can watch in the video below or read along with the transcript, Schwarzenegger and Barbaro reveal one of their most difficult scenes to capture, and it wasn’t because of the intense stunts or fight choreography. They talk about improvising together, the many facets of Arnold Schwarzenegger and how it feels for Barbaro to leave the collaboration with him Tom Cruise At Top Gun: Maverick starring with the Terminator himself.
MONICA BARBARO: I think judging by his shirt he’s hoping to interview you.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, who’s on the shirt? Oh yes, that’s me! That’s a nice looking shirt. You are the man!
COLLIDER: The funny thing is that I’ve worn this shirt all over the world and it always gets a reaction from people like, ‘I can’t believe I can talk to you today and I will. “Of course wear this shirt.”
SCHWARZENEGGER: So, when you take it off, could you just put it in the corner or do you wash it every day?
[Laughs] No, the shirt is often washed. I’m not one of those people who have to wear it all the time. Arnold, I don’t know who this person is, but if someone has never seen anything you’ve done before, what’s the first thing you want to see and why?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I would tell them to be careful FUBAR. The simple reason is that I don’t want to try and hype it FUBAR now, or saying it’s coming out on May 25th or something, that’s totally relevant in this case.
BARBARO: Only on Netflix…
SCHWARZENEGGER: What I want to say – you said Netflix? Did I forget Netflix? I forgot Netflix, sorry. But what I’m definitely saying is just the whole combination or sort of whole inventory of different acting styles in one show. So there’s the action in there, there’s the intense Arnold in there, there’s the fun Arnold, there’s the generous Arnold in there and there’s that kind of sincerity and all these different angles and dimensions I think. I think that’s one of the things to watch.
If it’s about something else, what should they pay attention to? I think if you saw my speech after the January 6 riot, I think it would also give you a different idea of a different Arnold. So there’s just all these different dimensions, and I think that’s what Netflix is doing with the documentary they’re putting out, which is showing the different Arnolds.
Monica, you’ve worked with Tom Cruise, you’re working with Arnold now, have you thought about playing the lottery?
BARBARO: [Laughs] I feel like I’m about to win, and I think I’m about to win, with my career. That’s a good point. But no, yes, sure, I’ll buy a ticket today.
Just something to think about.
BARBARO: Yes, that’s solid.
One of the scenes that I liked was a scene with you two and the puppets and I was just thinking how many takes did it take to actually do that scene without laughing so you could actually do a take?
BARBARO: We laughed a lot. The funny thing about filming anything is that you get so many different takes and so many angles that I think at eleventh hour we’re like, “Is anybody still laughing because we’ve been doing this over and over?” ?” But I think hopefully it held up.
Yes, I broke a lot. [To Schwarzenegger] I couldn’t believe how high your voice was – or how high you really think I Sound that was pretty funny. I was working on his voice and I asked him, “Are you going to say the lines I say about you in your voice?” And he said, “What’s so special about an Arnold impression is that it doesn’t really sound like me. It actually grew into something all its own, and I’ve been watching videos, looking at other people’s impersonations, Bill Hader probably has the best of it, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah!’ It almost has its own in a way Character assumed when you really listen, like pound for pound or word for word, to an impression and not the way he actually pronounces it. He doesn’t sound quite like the imitations sound. From there it was just, “Okay, have fun with whichever version of this you want.”
SCHWARZENEGGER: I have to say that I messed up a lot of takes because I remember the director getting very frustrated at one point.
BARBARO: I let his doll kiss his muscle and it made him collapse. It made me feel good [laughs].
SCHWARZENEGGER: What would happen was that somehow Monica was able to do each take a little bit differently and so there was always another trick that surprised me and made me laugh. Eventually the guy said to me, the director said, “Hey, Arnold, let’s get some rest.” Need a few minutes? Because I would like to do a shot where you don’t laugh because he’s supposed to be very serious. And remember, you’re standing in front of your psychiatrist, your CIA psychiatrist, you know, kind of advice, you’re sitting in front of him, he’s telling you that this is a good way to get rid of the animosities that you face each other,” and bla bla bla. So he says I need a serious scene. And so we did a couple of takes in earnest.
BARBARO: The nice thing was that at the end of the part that was in the script, they said, “Okay, at the end you can just yell at each other.” And I felt like we both said, “Okay!” And we took that and drove on with it and I don’t think the slamming of the door was scripted. We definitely had a lot of fun with it.
What do you think would surprise future fans of the show if they learned about the actual making of the show?
BARBARO: That each episode was shot in eight days.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Was it?
BARBARO: Yes, from 8 to 10 there were some doubles –
SCHWARZENEGGER: How good were you at math when you went to school?
BARBARO: It’s eight days per episode! Wasn’t it?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Anyway, I say eight days because we don’t want to fight here in front of you.
BARBARO: Not again, Arnold.
SCHWARZENEGGER: But once you leave the screen, don’t worry, it’ll just scream a little…
BARBARO: A few fact checks…
SCHWARZENEGGER: And then she’ll hit me again and things like that. It will be elder abuse.
FUBAR premieres May 25 on Netflix only. Check out the trailer below, and be sure to stop by Collider for more interviews with the cast.
