Despite being one of the most celebrated actors in the industry, with his name involved in several Sci-fi classics which reshaped the genre, not every sci-fi movie was relishing to work for Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

And one of the classics, Total Recall, which is widely praised by critics and audiences, wasn’t the best time of his life, considering the extreme conditions the film crew had to deal with.

And even though the movie suffered from production hell, with most of the crew members falling sick to the extreme conditions of the location, it seems that the strict diet of The Terminator actor saved kept him going.

Total Recall (1990)
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s strict diet ended up as a blessing in disguise

Even though Total Recall garnered immense praise from both critics and audiences at the time, with the film garnering $261 million at the box office, the production for the movie wasn’t quite relishing for the crew.

According to reports. the extreme pollution and the hazardous condition during the production led to the film crew suffering multiple problems, including food poisoning, except for The Terminator star. The report stated,

“The air pollution was so bad in Mexico City at the time of shooting that according to production designer William Sandell in the 2001 featurette Imagining Total Recall, associate producer Elliot Schick had to be air-lifted via medical-evacuation helicopter to a nearby hospital. And nearly the entire cast and crew fell ill to food poisoning at one point.”

But despite the grueling conditions that they have to deal with, it seems that Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was known for maintaining an extreme diet following his godly physique, ended up as a blessing for the actor.

But even though the actor wasn’t a victim of the torturous conditions, he wasn’t immune to injuries.

It isn’t just the challenging conditions of the location but in general Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t new to wounding himself during filming. The actor admitted being prone to injuries and ended up wounding himself in several movies throughout his career.

And his time in Total Recall wasn’t much different, as the actor recalled that while he was performing a stunt for the movie, he ended up wounding his wrist in a gruesome manner but despite the issue, he did finish the scene. He said,

“They did not explode the window before I hit the window with the gun, so therefore I cut my wrist deep. And I had to get stitched up during lunch break, which was at midnight because we were night shooting.

After I was stitched up and everything, we hid the bandages, we pulled the jacket to the front and taped it up so we don’t see the bandages.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall
But despite all the difficulties that he had to endure during the filming process, The Terminator star didn’t lose his composure, and the director, Paul Verhoeven later commended the actor for his working ethic and down-to-earth demeanor.