Los Angeles, July 03: Arnold Schwarzenegger was reluctant to talk about his political career at the premiere of his new movie, Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines on Monday (June 30). He's widely expected to confirm that he will run for Governor of California on behalf of the Republican Party if the current Governor Gray Davis is ousted. In Terminator 3: The Rise Of The Machines, John Connor (Nick Stahl) has been living an anonymous existence, no home, no credit cards, no phone and no job. Although ten years have passed since Connor helped prevent Judgment Day, he's still afraid, still wary of being traced and killed by Skynet's network of machines.


He's right to be scared. Skynet's latest weapon, the T-X (Kristanna Loken) is an advanced alloy metal endo-skeleton covered in a liquid metal disguised as a beautiful woman and is the most sophisticated cyborg killing machine yet. Her mission is to kill Connor and veterinarian Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) then finish what her predecessor, the T-1000 started, by destroying all mankind.


A replica of the T-101 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has been sent to defend Connor and Brewster and ensure their survival, but T-X is stronger, faster, smarter and far superior to him technically. The result is an action packed, stunt driven movie with A-list special effects that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.

Terminator 3: The Rise Of The Machines premiered at Mann's Village Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles on Monday night (June 30, 2003 and it was a grand affair. The red carpet was littered with T3 inventions, which pleased fans of the Terminator trilogy immensely. A number of Hollywood notables joined the cast of the movie on the red carpet to show their support for Arnold and for the film.

Schwarzenegger is no stranger to physical exertion, but he still found it harrowing, and said "It was hard work, a lot of stunts and a lot of injuries but I mean I had shoulder surgery and I hurt myself several times, but it was terrific." Nick Stahl was not as involved in the main action of T3, but nevertheless told reporters "It was very physical for me, the whole movie I was moving, I was running, I was falling, I was doing some kind of physical activity, so I got bumped up a little bit."

Amazingly, Kristanna Loken, who plays the villain, does a number of stunts and takes on Arnold in several fight scenes says she faired better than the men with "some really bad bruises but aside from that no major injuries or anything." Naturally everyone wanted to know if Arnold Schwarzenegger would run for Governor of California later this year if Governor Gray Davis is ousted, but the star refused to talk about his political ambitions, saying he was concentrating only on Terminator 3."


In "The Rise Of The Machines" the Terminator`s might is been pitted against a woman for the first time ever and Arnold Schwarzenegger relished every minute. He says "It was terrific because it was such a good context to have a female terminator come back and to kick your butt." Taking on Schwarzenegger was a huge challenge for Kristanna Loken who told reporters she "did weight training, weapons training, studied martial arts and put on about 15 pounds of muscle mass" in preparation for her role.


It`s a brave man who romps naked on a Hollywood movie set when he`s over fifty and even Arnold Schwarzenegger says that although "it feels odd running around naked on a set with hundreds of people working there and all that stuff, but you get over it and you get used to it and you do it."
But make no mistake, even movie stars have to work hard to buff up their muscles and insiders say that even on set, Arnold spent every second between takes working out and honing every inch of his body.



Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines opened nationwide on Wednesday, July 2, 2003.


Bureau Report