It has become one of the most iconic catchphrases of all time, quoted and requoted time and again, but according to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new memoir, the Austrian Oak wasn’t initially keen on saying “I’ll be back”.
“Our biggest disagreement was about 'I'll be back'," reveals Schwarzenegger, when asked about working with James Cameron on The Terminator . "I was arguing for 'I will be back'. I felt that the line would sound more machine-like and menacing without the contraction.
“'Let's stick with I'll,' he said. But I wasn't ready to let it go, and we went back and forth. Finally Jim yelled, 'Look, just trust me okay? I don't tell you how to act, and you don't tell me how to write.'
“It sounds really weird when I say it with my accent but he said, 'I don't care, let's just say it ten different ways and then one will work.’ And so that's what we did."
Clearly Arnie has made his peace with the line, since he belts it out at least three times in The Expendables 2 alone. Still, a blazing row between movie titans Schwarzenegger and Cameron is something we’d pay good money to see…
