Arnold Schwarzenegger says he once used an “accent-removal coach”

nme.com:

Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he used an “accent-removal coach” during the early stages of his career.Appearing on last night’s (October 27) Graham Norton Show, Schwarzenegger said he had a coach during his early career to remove his famous Austrian accent.“I had an English coach, an acting coach, a speech coach, and an accent-removal coach,” the actor told Norton.

He then explained that his accent-coach “has passed away since,” but then joked: “I should have otherwise gotten my money back.”Schwarzenegger explained how the trainer’s process did help him, although not as intended. “It was very helpful [for enunciation],” he told Norton, “but it didn’t get rid of my accent!”Schwarzenegger went on to say his accent played a big part in him getting a part in his two biggest movies, Conan the Barbarian and Terminator.

He recalled a story in which John Milius, the director of Conan, told the press: “If we wouldn’t have had Schwarzenegger, we would’ve had to build one.”He also said: “Jim Cameron said what made Terminator work, and what made it successful, is that Schwarzenegger talks like a machine.”Elsewhere in the interview, Schwarzenegger admitted that his rivalry with Sylvester Stallone got “out of control” when they started to “derail each other”.Schwarzenegger admitted that they would compete against each other in their various action films and would attack each other in the press.The pair later became friends after collaborating on projects together, including film franchise The Expendables and 2013’s Escape Plan.