EXCLUSIVE: Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting the documentary treatment.
The Terminator star has sat for a series of candid interviews that form part of a three-part documentary series for Netflix.
The streamer is launching Arnold on June 7 and it comes from director Lesley Chilcott and executive producer Allen Hughes. The documentary series comes as Netflix is preparing to launch scripted series FUBAR, created by Nick Santora, where he plays a veteran CIA operative on the verge of retirement in his first ever TV role.
Arnold will chronicle Schwarzenegger’s journey from the countryside of Austria to the highest echelons of the American dream. It will cover everything from his days pumping iron to his triumphs in Hollywood, his time governing the state of California and both the joys and turbulence of his family life in a tale that matches his larger-than-life persona.
It will also feature interviews from his friends, foes, co-stars and observers.
The series kicks off with a young, restless Schwarzenegger dreaming of leaving his native Austria and his complicated family life. Before a stint in the service, he sees Reg Park on the big screen as Hercules and decides his ticket out is through competitive body-building, where he won 13 global titles and moved to the U.S.
He then turned his attention to Hollywood, where he starred in Conan The Destroyer, the Terminator movies, Predator, Twins and Kindergarten Cop, alongside co-stars such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Linda Hamilton, director James Cameron and competitor Sylvester Stallone.
Schwarzenegger then sets his sights on politics, winning both a recall and a general election in California, governing one of largest economies in the world for seven years. While it proves disruptive to his family life and he has his detractors, Gov. Schwarzenegger is also praised for a multitude of accomplishments. After the twists and turns of his stranger-than-fiction tale, Schwarzenegger reflects deeply on his life and makes himself useful with philanthropic ventures and awareness-raising on issues ranging from anti-Semitism to climate change.
The series is produced by Hughes’ production company Defiant Ones Media Group and Chilcott’s Invented By Girls.
Hughes is coming off the launch of Dear Mama, which he directed for FX/Hulu. The five-part documentary series documents the lives and legacies of rapper Tupac Shakur and his mother Afeni Shakur, a Black Panther Party activist. The series, which premiered on April 21, is now FX’s most-watched unscripted series premiere in the history of the network when accounting for both same-day viewing on FX and next-day viewing on Hulu.
Hughes is also on board to direct the first definitive biopic of hip-hop star Snoop Dogg for Universal Pictures, all of which come after Hughes’ classic HBO docuseries Defiant Ones about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.
Chilcott, meanwhile, is best known as a producer of Al Gore’s climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary. She recently directed Helter Skelter: An American Myth, a six-part series for MGM+. Other projects she has directed include Codegirl and Watson and she has also produced It Might Get Loud, Waiting for Superman and Amityville: An Origin Story.
Hughes and Chilcott exec produce alongside Peter Nelson, Paul Wachter and Doug Pray with Craig Repass as producer.