Be back at my best

Movie muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger has told how he rolled back the years to get in peak condition for his return in Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines.

The star - whose line "I'll be back" was named the best-ever screen parting shot by film buffs - was determined not to disappoint fans who have waited 12 years for the sci-fi sequel.

So he turned to his training as a former world champion body-builder - spending hours a day pumping iron to recapture the physique which thrilled millions in the first two Terminator epics.

Despite serious heart surgery five years ago, he proved he was back to his best last month when he appeared on a beach in St Barts, West Indies, looking in remarkably good shape for a man of 55.

Arnie, who this time faces female adversary T-X - played by gorgeous Kristanna Loken - admitted he was worried he might not be fit enough to play gun-toting cyborg T-800.

He said: "The big thing was starting my training again. When you turn up from the future naked, you need to have the same body that you did before to prove that you're from the same mould and are the same robot."

"So the pressure was on to achieve the same body I had 11 years ago. Luckily, on set I got enough time to train during lunchtime because it's very important for me to train twice a day. I used the hour to work out in an exercise trailer."

"I also used a gym near my home, which was fun. It was like the old days, being in the gym with the boys, having a laugh. I enjoyed it. I did very heavy training for six months before filming started."

Fans will see the results when the £200 million film opens this summer.

Bosses were so determined to keep the plot under wraps that half the crew were not even allowed to see the script.

And only Arnie, the director and the producers saw the pages for the ending until the moment came to shoot the climactic scenes.

In Terminator 3, Arnie's job as T-800 is to protect John Connor - the boy he came back through time to KILL before birth in the first Terminator film, shot in 1984.

By the second Terminator movie, Judgement Day, Arnie had become the good guy - saving Connor and the world from extinction.

This time around he refuses to reveal exactly what T-800 gets up to in Rise Of The Machines saying: "There are lots of surprises in the story. I can't say what happens, you will just have to wait."

Arnie admitted the character is pretty much the same. But he added: "The scenes are quite different. This is ten years later, he has his hands full."

T-800 also manages to use some extremely impressive hardware. "There are a lot of outrageous weapons and neat things, different guns," said Arnie.

In Terminator 3 John Connor is living in hiding as evil Skynet, the network of machines that tried to kill him as a child, continues its bid to hunt him down.

When T-X succeeds in finding him, John calls on Arnie to come out of retirement and save him - along with the rest of mankind.

One of the film's most dramatic scenes sees Arnie exhume the coffin of John's dead mother Sarah. John believes it contains the key to the future of humanity. But as Arnie carries the casket on one shoulder, a waiting SWAT team opens fire. Arnie said: "I take the coffin away, throw it in a hearse and drive off. Then the female Terminator follows. It's part of a big chase sequence."

Arnie had wanted for years to make the third Terminator film, but confessed he was nervous over the project. He said: "This movie is fun but it is a big responsibility at the same time because people expect this movie to be as good - if not better than - the second one and the first."

"The good thing about Hollywood is the mood to make sequels better than the originals. They hire the best people in every department and spend the money on it."

He added: "This character is like putting on a comfortable shirt. I slip into it very easily. Everywhere I went people asked, 'Are you going to make another Terminator'? It's what they wanted to see, people have been waiting."

Director Jonathan Mostow said: "The fight sequences in Terminator 3 will be different from other movies we've seen. As a fan of the series, I just tried to make the film I'd like to see as a fan."

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