The trouble with Arnie’s new Netflix doc? The muscle man himself...

Arnold Schwarzenegger led an atonishing life, writes Louis Chilton – but it’s not the white-washed one presented in this three-part docuseries

Schwarzenegger in his new three-part docuseries ‘Arnold’ (Netflix)

Arnold Schwarzenegger knows a thing or two about image. The bodybuilding champion turned actor turned two-term governor of California built his career on this. He is a self-made man in every sense of the word: reputationally, financially, and, perhaps more than anything, bodily. Look at footage of Schwarzenegger in the early 1960s, preening atop an athletic podium, and you will see a man who ballooned himself into the form of a steroidic adonis through discipline, sheer determination, oh, and performance-enhancing chemicals. It’s a body that seems to transcend the laws of nature and good health. You can see plenty of footage of this young, bulbous weightlifter during the first episode of Arnold, a new three-part Netflix series focusing on Schwarzenegger’s life and career. Now, of course, his bodybuilding days are behind him. But his iron grip on his own image remains as tight as ever.

The triptych breaks down his life into three discrete eras: “Athlete”, “Actor” and “American”. Viewers will likely know the bullet points by rote: Schwarzenegger’s move to Hollywood; his success as a tanklike leading man in films such as Conan the Barbarian; his inimitable menacing turn as the robotic fulcrum of the Terminator franchise; his goofy family comedies, such as Twins and Jingle All the Way; the incongruous political career that followed.

Schwarzenegger himself contributes generously to the programme by way of talking head interviews, as do a raft of former collaborators, including James Cameron, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sylvester Stallone. The miniseries is directed by Lesley Chilcott, the filmmaker behind the 2020 Charles Manson docuseries Helter Skelter. Over three hour-long instalments, Arnold has ample opportunity for forensic character profiling. Despite this considerable access to Schwarzenegger – or, more likely, because of it – the series only scratches the surface of the man himself. If there were actually a metallic endoskeleton hidden beneath his cheeks, I’m not sure we’d ever know.