How scary was that, when we learned in late March that Arnold Schwarzenegger had a major operation? When it was first announced, fans around the globe feared the worst during the first few hours. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long for the news that he woke up shortly after to his first words of “I’m back.” We all knew our favorite action hero underwent heart surgery in 1997 (a few months after we launched TheArnoldFans website). We also knew the time would come when the valve would need to be replaced. Schwarzenegger recently divulged that he was starting to feel tired in the last couple of years due to his valve weakening so he scheduled the surgery which didn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped. Still, the great doctors performed the risky yet successful operation. Weeks later, sitting at his home table, Arnold made a video saying thank you to the fans for the loving support and that he was feeling "good" but "not great yet.”
On May 4th, Arnold was back again with a video update. No longer did he look wiped of energy and speaking slowly, as he did in the previous video. Now Schwarzenegger was upbeat and walking, temporarily with a cane, out of his “favorite restaurant”. In the second video, Arnold sounded much better and more jovial but still his vocals are strained from the tubes that were invasively down his throat. He’s getting better every day.
On the positive side of having the operation, If all goes according to plan, and it should, Arnold will have a stronger heart than what it has been for the past few years. After his recovery time, Arnold can get back into doing cardio. Knowing Arnold, it will probably be less than a month until we see those paparazzi photos of our hero riding his bike all over Santa Monica.
Many fans write us, concerned with Arnold’s health and are worried for the future of his film projects. Can Arnold, who will turn 71 in a couple months and who had his second heart operation, come BACK to being a great action hero? Some things will certainly need a change but for the most part, Arnold can continue on with the right action hero projects.
Aside from Conan the Barbarian, Commando and The Running Man, Arnold usually doesn’t do all that much on screen running. His current characters may do one quick running scene or a crazy stunt but Schwarzenegger is mostly known as a stoic, brutal puncher. Arnold is king of punches, one liners and is the master of firing ridiculously big firm-arms. This is the niche Arnold has carved out for himself and considering he isn’t the Jackie Chan or Van Damme kicker or a Stallone runner, Arnold, can still do what he does best for many more years to come!
I don’t think we’ll every get Schwarzenegger running all over the place in films and jumping over barriers and going over waterfalls anymore but for the fans who ask can Arnold still play the Terminator, the answer is “absolutely!” Terminators shoot guns, lift heavy objects and punch through walls…and many of these skills are achieved by special effects. Filming begins in a few months for Arnold and since Terminator don’t run, everything that is required of the Terminator character will be a piece of cake for Arnold!
In a perfect world, Arnold’s agent could push for him to lend his voice to characters more. In 2013, I spoke with Arnold about possibly lending his voice to an Avengers CGI character (hinting at Thanos). It even turned out that the person who created Thanos always envisioned Arnold to play him in a film some day. With Arnold now in his 70s, he can easily continue to be a Terminator but fans really do wish Arnold’s film agents would also push heavier for him to lend the world’s most recognizable and coolest voice to some CG characters for Marvel, Disney and DC and LucasFilm.
I'm not too sure about Conan anymore (hope I’m wrong), however, his other films such as Twins 2, Kung Fury and Outrider for Amazon are all easily doable for Arnold in his own brand of ass kicking fighting techniques. Arnold can shoot and punch his way out of this current health slump. His heart will be pumping strong. As they say in Pumping Iron, Arnold is now “the wolf climbing the hill.” Arnold will no doubt stay hungry...and the fans thirst for his comeback.
