James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the ‘True Lies’ Tango

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TRUE LIES, Tia Carrere, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1994, TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. - Credit: 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection
TRUE LIES, Tia Carrere, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1994, TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. - Credit: 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection

What can you say about James Cameron that he hasn’t already said about himself? In all seriousness, the guy is a filmmaking legend. Starting out as a model maker for Roger Corman, Cameron worked his way up the food chain, serving as art director, production designer, and oversaw the special effects on John Carpenter’s Escape From New York before helming his 1982 directorial debut Piranha II: The Spawning. It was his sophomore feature, however, 1984’s The Terminator, that established him as one of the most exciting filmmakers of his generation. The man hasn’t missed since: Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, Titanic, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water. Three of those films are among the top five highest-grossing movies ever.

Now, six Cameron classics will be coming to 4K Ultra HD and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray: True Lies, The Abyss, Aliens, Titanic, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water. And, in addition to the 4K remasters, the DVDs are packed with extras, including hours of deleted scenes and never-before-seen materials.

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In this exclusive clip from the True Lies’ 4K Ultra HD release, Cameron and his star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, break down the 1994 film’s memorable tango sequence between Schwarzenegger’s spy, Harry Tasker, and Juno Skinner, a fetching arms dealer played by Tia Carrere.

“Coming out of the diving suit wearing a tuxedo was such a James Bond kind of image, and once you go that far, it’s like, ‘OK, what’s next?’ So, the tango made sense,” Cameron explains.

Indeed, Schwarzenegger’s Tasker swims underwater up to a remote mansion, removes his drysuit (revealing a tuxedo underneath), and then, in order to avoid a group of armed guards, performs a lengthy tango dance with Skinner.

“When I sent him the script, I wrote in the margin with an arrow pointing to the description of the tango, ‘This is your most dangerous stunt.’ And he knew exactly what I meant,” recalls Cameron.

“It’s one thing to learn how to do the tango and be very comfortable,” adds Schwarzenegger. “But at the same time, it was written that all this other stuff was going on. I had to look out, I see the guards coming down the stairway, so I couldn’t really look like I’m looking for them, so everything had to be done very subtle.”

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