It was over a year ago that Roland Kickinger told me about a movie he was doing, called 'See Arnold Run'. Then, at the 2004 Olympia in Las Vegas, over dinner, we spoke more about the movie, in which Roland played Arnold the bodybuilder. Roland was happy about the movie, and hoped that the American public would like it too.
This week, Roland has received tremendous publicity, around the United States, and especially in Los Angeles, where the cover of the Los Angeles Times TV Times magazine was his, and two pages on the movie in TV Guide. It was nice to see. It was also nice to see that bodybuilding itself was getting the most mainstream publicity that I have ever seen in the national public eye, all because of the 'See Arnold Run' movie.
People who didn't know what bodybuilding was were going to watch the movie, just to see Arnold's interesting life, present and past.
Los Angeles Times Cover TV Times
TV Guide Week of Jan 30-Feb 5th issue
The movie itself was positive, both for Arnold, his political run, and for bodybuilding. There were scenes from Arnold's episode on the dating game, Muscle Beach shots, Arnold and Franco, the old Gold's gym, the IFBB Mr. Olympia contest, Pumping Iron, the pictures of Arnold holding a nude woman, his comments about drugs, and much more. It was really cool to see, and by the time it ended, regardless of some critics who complained about the movie before it came it, many of us thought it was actually pretty good.
It wasn't in chronological order, rather it was set up in three parts, going from the present, to 30 years ago before the 1974 Mr. Olympia, to his childhood, and so on. Actually, they set it up so that the winning of the 1974 Mr. Olympia coincided with the winning of the 2004 California's governor election, and the events that led up to each one of them.
When the movie ended, many of us thought that it was well worth the two hours that we watched it, and wound up watching parts of it again (in Los Angeles, 'See Arnold Run' aired three times in a row.) During the second time, it was nice to see some friends that you see at bodybuilding expos and on the stage playing great bodybuilders 30 years ago.
Ok, one thing that obviously will bother the purists is that the actors playing them, even if they were bodybuilders, were not in 100% shape to portray them. Who cares? This is acting, and the mainstream public would rather not see a guy with extraordinary muscles; rather they just wanted to see the story, and that they did.
Good job!
See Arnold Run: The Movie!
December 7, 2004
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- On January 30th, 2005, the cable station Arts & Entertainment (A&E) will present a world premier event, a two hour movie based on the life of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Roland Kickinger, who is an IFBB pro bodybuilder, and competed a number of times before working in the television series 'Son of the Beach' will play a title role as Arnold in his bodybuilding days.
The plot summary is as follows for this movie "This biographical docu-drama alternates between two parallel threads in the life of Arnold Schwarzenegger: his formative early years as the repeat winner of the Mr. Olympia body-building championship; and his modern foray into the world of politics, hitting the campaign trail and competing in the frenzied atmosphere that accompanied California's chaotic recall election."
The movie is directed by James B. Rogers, who has also directed American Pie II. The cast will include:
- Roland Kickinger .... Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Jürgen Prochnow .... Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Mike Ergas .... Franco Columbu
- Nick Stellate .... Frank Zane
- Bob Cicherillo .... Lou Ferrigno
- Chris Cook .... Dave Draper
- Brian Cleaver .... Joe Gold
- Craig Zimmerman .... George Butler ('73)
- Doug Crane .... George Butler ('03)
- Mariel Hemingway .... Maria Shriver
- Cody Brink .... Young Arnold
- David Burke .... Paul Miner
- Nicole DeHuff .... Barbara
- Nora Dunn .... Arianna Huffington
- Alex Hyde-White .... George Gorton
- Leonard Kelly-Young .... Rabbi Heier
- Morten Kublick .... Bodybuilder
- David Kyl-Brown .... Dee Snider
- Bob Morrisey .... Don Sipple
- Charley Rossman .... Cruz Bustamante
- Brandon Rowley .... Meinhard
- Jennifer Ruffner .... Press Reporter
- Kristen Shaw .... Barbara Walters
- Pat Skipper .... Mike Murphy
- Peter White .... Bob White
- David Lloyd Wilson .... Gustav S.
- D. Elliot Woods .... Talk Show Host
- David Grant Wright .... LA Times Reporter
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