Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Character Information
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President Arnold Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American actor and politician who appeared as the President of the United States in The Simpsons Movie voiced by Harry Shearer. In real life, he is the governor of California. The regular Simpsons character Rainier Wolfcastle is a parody of Schwarzenegger.
Biography
Born July 30, 1947 in Thal, Austria, as a young man, Schwarzenegger gained widespread attention as a highly successful bodybuilder. He later gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon. Schwarzenegger was nicknamed "The Austrian Oak" and "The Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently "The Governator" (a portmanteau of Governor and Terminator, referring to his internationally-popular film role).
Schwarzenegger is married to Maria Shriver. He is a Republican who was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis' term. Schwarzenegger was then reelected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for a second term on January 5, 2007. In May 2004 and 2007, he was named as one of the Time 100 people who help shape the world.
The Simpsons Movie
Although he does not provide the voice, Arnold Schwarzenegger is President of the United States in the film. He was chosen instead of the incumbent President George W. Bush because then, "in two years [...] the film [would be] out of date". James L. Brooks was nervous about the idea, noting that "[Schwarzenegger's] opinion polls were way down", he said that they "were [hoping] he'd make a political comeback". The animators began by drawing an accurate caricature of Schwarzenegger, but one of the staff instead suggested an altered version of recurring character Rainier Wolfcastle as President. This idea was developed, with the design of Wolfcastle, himself also a caricature of Schwarzenegger, being given more wrinkles under his eyes and a different hairstyle. He was voiced by Harry Shearer.
External links
- Arnold Schwarzenegger at Wikipedia
