1987’s Predator gave Arnold Schwarzenegger one of his most memorable action roles, but filming the movie almost ruined his wedding to Maria Shriver. In the 1980s and 1990s, Schwarzenegger was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, headlining hit after hit, despite often being criticized by some for his limited acting range. As far as audiences were concerned though, Schwarzenegger was giving them exactly what they wanted, complete with Herculean physique, snappy one-liners, and a thick Austrian accent.
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Schwarzenegger ruled action cinema during his time on top of the movie world, primarily playing the superman-esque hero forced to go it alone against a veritable army of bad guys. In Predator though, Schwarzenegger instead went one-on-one with the galaxy’s ultimate hunter, and often found himself the underdog. It was a rare position for the bodybuilder turned actor to be put in, but thankfully Schwarzenegger’s charisma served him just as well battling from beneath as it did effortlessly blowing away goon after goon.
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However, the 1980s weren’t just important to Schwarzenegger from a professional perspective. He would also get married to Maria Shriver, and they would stay together for the next 25 years. That was no thanks to Predator, as the film’s shoot nearly ruined he and Shriver’s big day.
Predator Almost Ruined Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Wedding
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver got married on April 26, 1986, at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. One assumes the couple had their reasons for choosing that date, but one wonders if they decided before or after Schwarzenegger committed to filming Predator. The action/sci-fi/horror classic filmed primarily in the jungles of Mexico, which is of course quite a distance from Massachusetts. Schwarzenegger ended up cutting things so close that he finished up the night’s filming on April 24, took a jet chartered by Predator producer Joel Silver, and landed in Hyannis Port the next morning.
By then, Schwarzenegger had already missed some of the final preparations for the ceremony, which is said to have left Shriver none too happy with him. They held the rehearsal dinner the night of April 25, then got married the next day. The couple went on a very brief honeymoon, with Schwarzenegger back on the Predator set by Wednesday, April 30. It would appear Shriver got over any issues she had with the scheduling by then, as she actually came to the set soon after to have dinner with her husband and his co-stars, according to actor Richard Chaves. Sadly, Schwarzenegger and Shriver’s marriage survived Predator, but couldn’t survive an infamous infidelity scandal soon after his tenure as governor of California ended.
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