governator Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Another election, another politician wanted out of office ... and yet another documentary. This chain of events is so common now that the presence of partisan docs is as easy to ignore as all the real campaign ads on television. Even one such film, about Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, would have passed under the radar if not for gaining a bit of controversy over the weekend. The film, Running with Arnold, is against the re-election of "The Governator" and has reportedly gone over the line as far as taste goes in order to attack the actor's qualifications for office.

One person who isn't happy with the finished product is its narrator, Alec Baldwin. He could sue the film makers after having gotten no cooperation from them regarding his request to be removed from the project or a cease and desist letter that he issued to them. On The Huffington Post, he wrote about his disapproval of the film, particularly the unfair association of Schwarzenegger with Nazis. He also says that the film makers can not accommodate his wishes because of a distribution deadline (I can't seem to find a release date for the film to back up this deadline, but seeing as how election day is in one week, I'm guessing it will play somewhere starting this Friday).

On today's episode of our brand-new daily news recap: My Space does something about Sex Addicts; Comcast does something *for* horror fanboys; and Hollywood pounces on Terri Sciavo. Remember: we're still looking for your ideas for a name for the show, so do your worst in the comments.

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Hosts
Karina Longworth

Editor
Randall Bennett

Music
Love as Laughter - I'm a bee

Format
4:48, 40.5 MB, MPEG4 (iPod / PSP compatible)

Program
00:00 - MySpace says 'no' to 'Sex Addict'
01:35 - MovieTickets.com inks deal with MySpace to sell tickets
01:49 - Comcast and Sony to launch horror flicks on-demand network
02:37 - DeVito partners with Freeman's 'Clikstar' to run ignored documentaries
03:27 - Schwarzenegger 'won't be back' for another 'Terminator'
03:54 - Rights to Terri Schiavo movie purchased

 

Moviehole reported this morning that Terminator 4 is a go: its got a script and everything, and producers are just waiting for Arnold Schwarzenegger to get booted from the governator's mansion. Based on an interview Mario Kassar - who produced Terminator 3 (and is currently out promoting Basic Instinct 2 - what a classy resume he's putting together) - gave Extra, it sounds like rumors that Arnold's Terminator had been written out are untrue, and both his character and the franchise will live to see another day. That said, is anyone really surprised? Literally the first thought I had after T3 ended was "Well, they left that WIDE open for a sequel, didn't they?" After all, even as the quality of the series declines, we still keep buying tickets: T3 cost about $175 million and grossed $418 million worldwide. Apart from the fact that one might wonder why the brilliant robotics folks in the future would make an indestructible hero that looks so damn old, what possible reason who they have to stop making the movies?

First more Conan and now this - why, studios are practically setting up camp outside Arnie's digs, praying that he'll get kicked out this fall.

The crystal ball over here at Cinematical Headquarters is on the fritz, but even without it, I'd be willing to bet that the issue of runaway production will be to 2006 what The Slump was to 2005. Don't believe me? Then why is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (yup - it still hurts) talking about resurrecting an already-proposed, already-unpopular bill that would pump $100 million of state funds into keeping production from fleeing California? But according to the Hollywood Reporter, he's unlikely to have much luck at it. Though the money for the program, unavailable in last year's budget, now exists, there's a massive financial black hole on the horizon. When Schwarzenegger gives his State of the State speech on Thursday night, he's expected to present a plan to overhaul both the state budget, and the entire California infrastructure, at the possible cost of up to $50 billion. Pundits suspect that the production incentives will likely get lost in that shuffle. It's interesting that Schwarzenegger would bother to resurrect the same old bill at all – since protecting the local entertainment industry is vital to the state's economy on the whole, one would imagine that the Governor would take it upon himself to incorporate that order of business into the state's massive overhaul. But I suppose one would imagine a lot of things...

The Austrian city of Graz has given up trying to negotiate with its once-favorite son. At the Governator's request, they've removed Arnold Schwarzenegger's name from their soccer stadium and promotional web sites. This all started, you'll remember, a couple of weeks back, when a handful of Grazian politicians lambasted the once (and future?) Barbarian for denying clemency for convicted murderer Tookie Williams. Schwarzenegger responded to said criticisms with characteristic grace: "Graz will not have problems in the future with my decisions as governor of California," he said, "Because officially nothing connects us any more." To that, Graz's mayor issued a plea for Schwarzenegger to reconsider: "I hope that very soon we'll hear you say, 'I'll be back"." It didn't happen, and Graz tookthe letters spelling out Arnold's name off the stadium sometime over the weekend. Sad news, to be sure, but hopefully it'll teach all of us to be more judicious with our use of Terminator quotes.

The original Westworld, written and directed by Michael Crichton, starred Yul Brenner Bynner as a gunslinging robot on the loose in a futuristic amusement park. At one point, Jerry Weintraub was planning to produce a remake, and Arnold Schwarzeneggar was set to star (unfortunately, *not* in the Brynner role), but that project was shelved when the Governator took office. Now Warner Brothers says the picture is back on, and they've hired Tarsem (The Cell, Losing My Religion and other insufferably pretentious REM videos) to direct it. Though Schwarzeneggar is not currently involved in this incarnation of the project, Pamela McClintock at Variety is waiting with bated breath for the circumstances surrounding his casting to sort themselves out: "It's certainly not a given that he won't be in Westworld should he decide not to seek re-election in next year's election or should he lose the race." Still, it might be a long wait - the soonest Arnie could possibly lose his Sacramento job is January '07, and the guy made a vow not to make films whilst in office.