Besides bulging muscles, Arnold Schwarzenegger also had a heart that cried like everyone else. And the noted director Steven Spielberg once became the reason behind his probable tears.

Schwarzenegger had set a high bar for himself, whether in bodybuilding or in movies. So, when his 1993 project, Last Action Hero, fell flat at the box office, he couldn't handle the shock well and plunged into a state of mild depression. Schwarzenegger's self-titled Netflix documentary, Arnold, features the noted director, James Cameron, in his remarks about his post-Last Action Hero phase.

Besides other revelations, Cameron startlingly disclosed that he once felt Schwarzenegger was probably crying due to the movie's failure. The Titanic director said, "He sounded like he was in bed crying. He took it as a deep blow to his brand. I think it really shook him… I said, ‘What are you gonna do?’ He said, ‘I’m just gonna hang out by myself.’ That’s the only time I’ve ever heard him down."

Well, the timing of Last Action Hero's release was the most significant factor behind its massive box-office failure. Emboldened by the monumental success of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the movie's team decided to pit Last Action Hero against Steven Spielberg's cult classic Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park hit screens on June 11, 1993, and created a frenzy among audiences. But John McTiernan and Co. decided to release Last Action Hero on June 18, just when Jurassic Park was at its peak.

As a result, Schwarzenegger's movie could amass $137 million worldwide despite being made at a budget of $85 million, far less than what he and the team had assumed.

And the failure impacted the 7x Mr. Olympia in such a way that it touched one of his near ones, who tried to raise his spirit.

Arnold Schwarzenegger admits his mother-in-law's support after the failure of Last Action Hero

Well, despite mentioning that Schwarzenegger sounded like he had been crying, Cameron couldn't confirm this. However, Arnold also features Schwarzenegger's confession about his upset phase following the failure of Last Action Hero, which implied that Cameron's observation was probably right.

Besides admitting that he was left baffled by the failure, the 7x Mr. Olympia also revealed that even his mother-in-law, the renowned American activist and philanthropist, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, offered to cheer him up and get him out of his depressed phase.

He stated, "I cannot tell you how upset I was. It hurts you. It hurts your feelings. It’s embarrassing… I didn’t want to see anyone for a week. But you keep plodding along. And my mother-in-law also said this: ‘Let’s just move forward.’ It’s a great message."

The fact that Schwarzenegger decided to include this story in his documentary speaks volumes about how deeply the failure of Last Action Hero impacted him.

Do you know about any other celebrity who was similarly depressed by their failure in their field?

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Written by

Souvik Roy

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil