Age definitely got nothing on Arnold Schwarzenegger, and with his performance in the new Netflix movie series “Fubar”, the 75 years old that started acting in the 70s will act way into his 80s.
The one-time box-office titan and former California governor stars in “Fubar,” his first TV series. In the eight-part action comedy from Nick Santora (now streaming), Schwarzenegger plays retiring CIA agent Luke Brunner, who’s forced back to the blow-up biz after discovering his daughter (Monica Barbaro) is also a secret agent.
“In the 80s, it was not cool to do the TV series; it was about being a movie star,” says Schwarzenegger. “Times have changed. Now everyone wants to do a TV show and movies at the same time.”
Here, father and daughter have both been hiding secret lives, a la “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” before being forced to team up by the CIA. Schwarzenegger’s Luke Brunner is actually on the verge of retirement when he discovers his daughter Emma (“Top Gun: Maverick’s” Monica Barbaro) was hired years earlier, making him delay his plans for a quieter life and win back his ex and her mother (Fabiana Udenio), after years of lying took a hit on their relationship.
Emma is rather awkwardly walking a mile in dad’s shoes on that front, dating the nerdy and clueless Carter (Jay Baruchel), who seems to ground her, although there is the little matter of all those bad boys with whom she interacts in her secret day job.
Arnold’s (Brunner) age in the movie was 65 years old and was described as the fastest 65-year-old on the planet after dispatching foes in one skirmish.
“I’m sold as a 65-year-old, but I’m 75,” he says proudly. “I feel I’m in a very good place.”
However, the former bodybuilder agrees it is not easy to perform some stunts at his age compared to when he was younger.
“It’s just harder to do some of those things than it was 40 years ago. You might be more sore the next day. Age definitely makes a difference.”
Injuries sustained while performing stunts were more “forgivable when I was young,” says Schwarzenegger, who severely injured his knee shooting “Conan” and had his arm stitched up while making 1990’s “Total Recall” when his hand went through glass during a subway chase. “I’ve broken my fingers on stunts. But we worked around the injuries,” says Schwarzenegger. “That’s tougher to do when you get older.”
“If I feel like something could really injure me, which would be a holdup to the show, then we stay away from it,” says Schwarzenegger. “Other things I don’t stay away from. I’ve always been a good judge of that.”
However, he reveals what keeps him fit to actually go about acting in action movies and trying out those stunts was his daily routine of exercises.
“The body benefits from that, your fitness benefits,” he says.