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I've seen a lot, but not nearly all, Arnold Schwarzenegger films. And he almost always plays an American, who is never referred to as being an immigrant or something like that. Even when playing a machine in the Terminator franchise, there's nothing in-universe about why his terminator has an accent while all other terminators don't.

So has there ever been a movie where his accent is addressed in-universe? Either by his character actually being from Austria, or by some dialogue in the movie referencing the fact that he has an accent?

GendoIkari
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  • I had a difficult time figuring out the correct tag(s) to use here... so if anyone has better suggestions, I'm all for it! – GendoIkari Aug 30 '23 at 15:18
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    I believe Terminator 3 had a deleted scene where someone involved in the Skynet project had their voice dubbed over with Arnie's, implying that the T-800 had its speech pattern modelled on his, but that's a deleted scene so I don't know if it counts. – F1Krazy Aug 30 '23 at 15:26
  • @F1Krazy Ah right, I do remember seeing that. It could be an example, but in a "just barely" kind of way. – GendoIkari Aug 30 '23 at 15:38
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    In FUBAR, his name (Brunner is a German surname. It could explain a European background before being American and working for the Agency. But I can't remember a movie he played in where his accent is "explained". He played a Russian in Red Heat so his accent was logically weird. – OldPadawan Aug 30 '23 at 15:40
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    My take has always been that none of his characters have the accent. The actor playing them does, but that's more akin to something like how the character of Jonathan Harker in "Bram Stoker's Dracula" doesn't actually have a bad British accent; just the actor playing him did. – GendoIkari Aug 30 '23 at 15:51
  • I've not seen it in 20 years, but they must have an explanation in Twins. – Tetsujin Aug 30 '23 at 16:09
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    @F1Krazy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kayFrIR-Qfw - "We can fix it" – Valorum Aug 30 '23 at 16:50
  • @Tetsujin I thought about Twins. He was raised outside of the US, but not in anywhere that an Austrian accent would make sense. – GendoIkari Aug 30 '23 at 18:38
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    Wasn't he called Dutch in Predator? – Paulie_D Aug 30 '23 at 18:41
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    What about Last Action Hero? – Todd Wilcox Aug 30 '23 at 21:24
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    @ToddWilcox It seems like that would be a strong candidate for sure, but I couldn't remember any specific reference to it in the movie. – GendoIkari Aug 30 '23 at 21:26
  • Does Pumping Iron count? lol – steelersquirrel Aug 30 '23 at 22:51
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    Can we do Sean Connery next? – Ken Y-N Aug 31 '23 at 00:00
  • In a broader sense, the tag "dialogue" might fit: "Questions related to specific pieces of a work's spoken word. " - [I somehow can't add it myself.] – Arsak Aug 31 '23 at 09:58
  • https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/52674/does-arnold-schwarzenegger-intentionally-strengthen-his-accent-in-older-movies https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/4162/why-does-the-t-800-terminator-model-talk-with-an-accent https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/28202/why-is-the-get-to-the-chopper-so-famous – Mithoron Aug 31 '23 at 12:39
  • I see that I had a bad memory at least regarding Kindergarten Cop. Turns out there's multiple "correct" answers. Hard to pick 1 to accept when at least 3 are equally good but about different movies. – GendoIkari Aug 31 '23 at 13:12
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    "never referred to as being an immigrant": I wonder who in America (USA) is not an immigrant? Even in German (when speaking German) Arnold has an accent, but I think it's part of the character making it unique. – U. Windl Aug 31 '23 at 13:29
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    Nice to hear that at least Skynet brought manufacturing back to America. – Dan Staley Aug 31 '23 at 14:01
  • @KenY-N Right off the bat I think of Highlander where he's in Scotland..lol. – rtaft Aug 31 '23 at 14:24
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    @U.Windl - wasn't Arnie refused the opportunity to voice his own German dub, because he 'sounds like a farmer'? [I'm also feeling sympathy for Dave Prowse too… who also sounded 'like a farmer' & was never even given any hope of voicing Darth Vader. They didn't even let him voice his earlier Green Cross Man adverts.] – Tetsujin Aug 31 '23 at 16:07
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    Who doesn't have an accent? Arnold's might not by the typical Hollywood accent. But every actor has an accent. – dotancohen Aug 31 '23 at 16:16
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    "I wonder who in America (USA) is not an immigrant?" That would be something like 300 million or so people alive today born in the USA, the other 30 million or so alive today in the USA would have immigrated from somewhere. The children of any immigrants are going to develop an American accent, vocabulary, etc. because of how their classmates and neighbors speak, what they hear on TV and radio, and this is often encouraged by the immigrant parents since having a "funny accent" is rarely beneficial socially and professionally. Not never, but rarely. – MacGuffin Aug 31 '23 at 16:27
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    "all other terminators ... don't have an accent" - Hmmm - to me they all have a heavy American accent! It was so strong I'd recommend turning on subtitles. It's weird how in the whole world, people from my area are the only ones who don't have an accent – Reversed Engineer Sep 01 '23 at 06:23
  • @MacGuffin Will Sampson from One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, et al – mcalex Sep 01 '23 at 19:44
  • @mcalex Someone born in the USA is not an immigrant, not by any definition I've seen. If the descendants of immigrants are also immigrants then anyone in the USA is an immigrant. Many groups of people we consider aboriginal or native to a given land have ancestors that immigrated to that land. If I'm an immigrant to the USA then so is Will Sampson. – MacGuffin Sep 01 '23 at 20:23
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    @rtaft although Highlander is set (in part) in Scotland the Scottish actor Connery plays the character Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez. An Egyptian with an adopted Spanish name. The Scottish protagonist, McLeod, is played by(American born) French actor Christopher Lambert. The villain, Victor "The Kurgan", is Russian and played by American actor Clancy Brown :) – gingerbreadboy Sep 22 '23 at 14:54

6 Answers6

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In Kindergarten Cop Schwarzenegger's character John Kimble is explicitly Austrian, O'Hara asks him directly...

O'Hara: So... where you from?

Kimble: Austria. My father was a cop. My brother was a cop...

Then later in the film another two mentions of Austria...

Kimble: I was born in Austria. My father was a teacher. My mother was a teacher. So is Ursula.

O'Hara (as Ursula): Ja

Kimble: We have a tradition in Austria where we follow the footsteps of our parents.

O'Hara even tried to ape his Austrian accent when she pretends to be his made-up sister Ursula.

O'Hara (as Ursula): My name is Ursula. Wonderful to meet you. I'm visiting here from Austria.

gingerbreadboy
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In Commando, his character (John Matrix) is apparently meant to be from East Germany:

Matrix: [reading one of Jenny's teen magazines] Why can't they just call him "Girl George"? It would get rid of all the confusion.

Jenny: Dad, that is so old.

Matrix: You know, when I was a boy and rock and roll came to East Germany, the Communists said it was subversive... (thinks for a moment) Maybe they were right? Commando: Wikiquote

JayFor
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Arnold Schwarzenegger plays an Austrian geneticist in the movie Junior

Austrian research geneticist Dr. Alex Hesse and his OB/GYN colleague Dr. Larry Arbogast invent a fertility drug, "Expectane", designed to reduce the chances of a miscarriage. With the drug unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the colleagues are unable to test the drug and cannot continue their research. Head of the review board Noah Banes informs Larry that while the FDA denied human experimentation, the team has received a donation from geneticist Dr. Diana Reddin from the ovum cryogenics department.

Schwarzenegger's character is Dr. Alex Hesse

steelersquirrel
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    A doctor having an accent doesn't really need an explanation - at least, not compared to the mystery of why he looks like he spends three hours a day lifting weights... – user3153372 Aug 31 '23 at 09:42
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    In cinema, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MenAreStrongWomenArePretty . What would an explanation is the male protagonist not being strong and handsome. – Pere Aug 31 '23 at 12:13
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    @user3153372 - I know more than a few doctors who train hard year round for triathlons, ultramarathons, or cross-Channel swims. 3 hours a day sounds about right for them. – Jon Custer Aug 31 '23 at 13:11
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    @user3153372 I've met docs who lifted weights as their primary recreation. – Jeffiekins Aug 31 '23 at 16:03
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    @Pere I'm lookin' at you, Danny DeVito in Twins... – Michael Aug 31 '23 at 17:18
  • @Michael - Danny DeVito not being handsome in Twins requires as explanation, and a big deal of the plot of the film revolves around that explanation. Protagonists are handsome by default and when they aren't that's a plot device. See for example Cyrano of Bergerac. – Pere Aug 31 '23 at 20:07
  • @Pere I'm still looking at Danny DeVito, but how 'bout Taxi? At least 3 of 4 protagonists miss the trope – mcalex Sep 01 '23 at 19:52
  • I'm sure you can find exceptions for any trope. The greatness of works of art (in any king) is often to skip the rules. – Pere Sep 02 '23 at 10:34
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There is a deleted scene that was filmed for Terminator 3 which addresses his accent in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

A group of military officers are watching a video presentation where a soldier, played by Schwarzenegger but dubbed by a voice actor with a strong Texan accent, introduces himself as the model for future robot soldiers.

Officer A: I don't know about that accent...

Officer B (dubbed by Schwarzenegger with his signature accent): We can fix it!

Philipp
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Not a movie, but in the recently released FUBAR series, he plays a CIA operative who's a naturalized US citizen but originally from Austria. Here are a few mentions:

She find out we spying on her boyfriend, I'm selling your Austrian butt downriver. (source)

I have muscles, so that means I know everything. And I'm from Austria, where life is hard and everything costs a nickel. (source)

  • Uh, I can think of 250 Austrian pounds of blame to go around.
  • One, I'm not 250. I'm 220 and all lean. Two, I didn't make you and Carter break up. (source)
terdon
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He plays a Soviet officer in the movie Red Heat, which isn't Austrian, but it sounds like him slightly altering his accent to be eastern European (which sounds convincing enough; if he's ever tried to sound like a native english speaker, I haven't heard it work).

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    As far as I know, he hired speech experts back in the day to make sure he doesn't lose his iconic accent :) "It's a feature, not a bug" – Luaan Aug 31 '23 at 06:30
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    Perhaps Schwarzenegger could speak like a native English speaker if he tried, but he would never allow anyone to record that. :) – Philipp Sep 02 '23 at 08:28