TIME WILL DIGNIFY ANYTHING

Trailer for Zak Knutson and Joey Figueroa's upcoming documentary Milius. In his autobiography, Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals a deep affection for his Conan the Barbarian director. Boringly short on Hollywood gossip, Schwarzenegger's book is primarily concerned with his own self-actualisation, general boasting, and the path that lead him into politics.

The most notable director in his oeuvre, James Cameron, is talked about as someone Schwarzenegger struggled to relate to - Cameron rejected Schwarzenegger's ET the Extra-Terrestrial inspired suggestions (Terminator should drink beer and get buzzed!), and seemed to spend the majority of The Terminator's shoot moaning about lenses.

Although complementary of Cameron's work realising the 1984 classic, there's a sense that Schwarzenegger sees more of himself in John Milius. Like his star, Milius delighted in saying outrageous things. From Total Recall My Unbelievably True Life Story:

"John liked to call himself a Zen fascist, and he'd brag that he was so far to the right that he wasn't even a Republican. Some people in town thought he was sick. But he was such a fantastic writer even the liberals would call him for help on their scripts, like Warren Beatty with Reds."

Schwarzenegger also describes Milius defending the actor against accusations of Nazism from Conan producer Dino De Laurentiis:

""There is only one Nazi on this team. And that is me. I am the Nazi!" For the rest of the production, he would go to odd antique stores and buy these little lead figurines of Mussolini and Hitler and Stalin and Francisco Franco and put them on Dino's desk."

For a right-wing ball breaker like Schwarzenegger, Milius must have seemed like an ideological superhero.

Trailer via Supervillain