Arnold Schwarzenegger: I always wanted to be a leading man

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, the journey towards success was not easy. The actor says that it was his vision that helped him reach the top as “you don’t get to the top by accident”.
“I always wanted to be the leading man. I believe if you think big you will end up big. You need to have a clear vision and then go after that vision. I shot for the top as I was hungry for success. I dreamt big,” the actor said at a summit on Saturday.
The 67-year-old went on from being a body building champion to an action hero and rolling out some classics like Conan The Barbarian, The Terminator and Commando.
The actor, who has also been governor of California, said there are no shortcuts to success.
“There is no shortcut and you need to work hard. Just stay focused on your goals. Everyone goes through failures. I have had failures – be it flop movies, lost competitions or personal life. But what makes you a winner is the moment when you get up again, dust your self and start working for your goal again,” he said.
“Don’t listen to the naysayers. Everyone in Austria said that body building is an American sport. ‘That’s crazy’, they used to tell me. Then people said 150 pound guys don’t make actors. ‘You will never make it’. ‘And the accent will not work for you either’. ‘Don’t do it’. I said I am gonna work just as hard as I did on body building.
“‘Conan The Barbarian’ stood no.1 at the box office. They wanted a muscular body and the makers said “If we didn’t have Schwarzenegger, we would have to build one. Then Terminator came along and the director said it worked only because he talked like a robot. With that German accent, ‘I’ll be back’ worked so well,” the actor added.
Although Schwarzenegger grew up in Austria and he came to USA because of opportunities.
“Everything that I’ve achieved is because of America, it is the land of opportunity. I went into politics as I wanted to give back to America as the country opened its doors for me,” said the True Lies actor.

It was a war with Sylvester Stallone

Actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are known for their action and stunt scenes and the former says he hated the latter for a decade. “It was straight out war in the 80’s between me and Stallone. We were competing with each other on all issues like who has more muscles, who has less body fat, who kills most people on screen, who has the most unique way of killing people on screen and who is getting what pay. I hated him for a decade,” Schwarzenegger said at a conference on Saturday.
“It was in early 90’s when we became friends. We were mature enough to say that we have got to stop this and then we had a great time working together,” the 67-year-old actor added.
The actors came together for movies like Escape Plan and The Expendables.