The hilarious moment Andre the Giant picked up Arnold Schwarzenegger like a child
It’s a very rare thing for Arnold Schwarzenegger not to be the beefiest name in the cast of one of his movies, but the hulking bodybuilding legend and action cinema superstar was handily dwarfed by not just one, but two of his co-stars on Conan the Destroyer.
The sequel to Schwarzenegger’s breakthrough role upped the ante in terms of scope, scale, spectacle, and sheer body mass, with basketball icon Wilt Chamberlain dwarfing the future Governor of California on-screen when the seven-footer’s character Bombaata stood next to the leading man’s title hero.
Chamberlain wasn’t even the tallest member of the ensemble, either, with Andre the Giant standing several inches higher and outweighing the NBA legend by several hundred pounds, even if he wasn’t credited for his turn as the Dagoth monster. He was billed as a giant and played a fearsome figure within the confines of professional wrestling, but Andre’s tales of mischief were equally legendary.
Whether it was his mind-blowing drinking habits of producing farts of such a deadly variety they could reduce an entire movie set to a standstill, his larger-than-life reputation saw him wreak havoc and create comedy gold wherever he went. That’s something Schwarzenegger discovered for himself when he was quite literally picked up and put in his place.
Despite being dwarfed by the pair of them, the Terminator star still tried to big league Chamberlain and Andre when they went out for dinner together, only for the latter to take matters into his own hands when the bill arrived, which came after many days on set that had Schwarzenegger recalling how “they were both always joking about who could pick me up and make me look like a little fly”.
Conan the Destroyer was the first time Schwarzenegger had earned a million-dollar paycheque for a film, and he was willing to let his dining partners know. “Andre was the most generous. Wilt Chamberlain was cheap, right? He was always penny-pinching, but Andre always wanted to pay for the dinner,” he said. “So this one day, I said, ‘I’ll be right back’ and I snuck out to give the waiter my credit card. I said, ‘Don’t let Andre or anyone pay. No matter how much he complains. I’m going to pay.'”
Furious but unable to do anything about it with the bill already being settled, Andre and Chamberlain then decided to get their revenge by using their enormous proportions to their advantage. “They both carry me out of the restaurant – people are freaking out – and they sat me on the roof of my car out front. It was a very funny scene,” one that was no doubt seared into the memories of anybody there that night.
Seeing somebody of Schwarzenegger’s dimensions hoisted up and placed on Andre’s equivalent of the naughty step would have been a sight to see and something that sounds as if it would scarcely be believable if it wasn’t true.
