Star of 'The 6th Day'

Schwarzenegger looks to future again

Arnold Schwarzenegger tackles the timely subject of cloning in the futuristic "The 6th Day"

By Paul Vercammen
CNN Showbiz Today Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Arnold Schwarzenegger is going back to the future, the time zone where's he's been a smash in the past with "Total Recall" (1990) and the "Terminator" (1984, 1991) films.

This time, in "The 6th Day" he gets tangled in a web of criminal cloning.

He also very nearly got stuck in a pool. The 53-year-old action hero insisted on doing his own stunts, including a dangerous swim in a tank filled with life-sized human embryo props.

Schwarzenegger recently sat down with CNN to discuss swimming and surviving as a Republican in a sea of Hollywood Democrats.

CNN: During the stunt in the tank, was there a moment where you were having a hard time finding the water's surface?

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Arnold Schwarzenegger: I found the surface, but there was a floor that was built for the camera to be wheeled around above me. So I couldn't really surface (get air). I was stuck after being already under water for a minute, swimming from one embryo to the next and the next.

I came up, I was out of air. Bang! I hit my head on the floor (the floor atop the water's surface built for the camera). Of course I went in the wrong direction. A scuba diver, seeing that I was in trouble, pulled me by the hand and pulled me out the right side.

CNN: You're a father of four; no one says you have to do these stunts. Why do you still do them?

Schwarzenegger: Why am I still going skiing on black-diamond runs? Why do I still go scuba diving? Why do I do a lot of the things that I do?

I think that every time I drive out there with my motorcycle ... my wife (Maria Shriver) says "Do you have to go on a motorcycle ride? I don't want you to get killed." So that's just the way it is. I like to live a little bit on the edge -- I mean, not completely, but a little bit.

CNN: This subject of cloning in "The 6th Day" is rather timely.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The 6th Day"

Schwarzenegger: A lot of people are talking about cloning. A lot of people are writing about it. A lot of cover stories being done on that subject. Even during the filming of "The 6th Day" we saw how fast this whole idea of cloning progressed and how the development of it was speeding up.

What was fascinating for me was to see the film's (concept of the) future. I could easily visualize the car that drives by itself -- you don't have to steer. Helicopters that become jets. Guys don't have real girlfriends; they have virtual girlfriends, holographic girlfriends.

CNN: Describe how you played the scene where you look into your house in the film see an exact replica of yourself.

Schwarzenegger: You have to realize that's it's your own family in your house, and you come home and see another you -- totally, exactly looking like you, behaving like you. But you are still outside the house. How could this happen? You can do nothing about it.

CNN: What was it like exchanging dialogue with Robert Duvall?

Schwarzenegger: He (Duvall) is a good Republican, No. 1. No. 2, he's an incredibly entertaining actor, very talented, and knows this business. So it was really great working with him.

CNN: How does it feel to be a Republican island in a sea of Democrats?

Schwarzenegger: It feels great to be in a town -- Hollywood -- where 95 percent of the people are politically misinformed. And then to be one of the 5 percent that really knows what's going on, and knows in which direction the country ought to go, or the state ought to go in the future: I think that's fun.

CNN: How do you balance all of your interests and projects?

Schwarzenegger: I have good assistants, good people in charge of those things, whether its the restaurant, my office, my investments, my Inner City Games Foundation (or) Special Olympics.

The No. 1 priority is that I'm always taking care of the family, especially right now. I'm shooting (the movie "Collateral Damage") in the jungles of Mexico, spending five six days every week filming. But I make sure that I fly home every weekend and spend two days with my family, and go to all the soccer games with the kids and do all the things that need to be done in order to catch up a little bit from the week. The family comes first.

Schwarzenegger in China for Special Olympics
May 12, 2000
Schwarzenegger terminates Planet Hollywood connection
January 26, 2000
Schwarzenegger settles libel suit
December 23, 1999
'End of Days' a new beginning for Arnold Schwarzenegger
November 22, 1999

The 6th Day

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