Someone’s opinion, delivered as a fact.
The future has an awkward habit of arriving without their approval.
Consider this applicant
He had built a body that could win competitions. Now he wanted to make movies. The things that made him stand out weren’t necessarily the things a casting office was looking for.
“Bodybuilder” could be an achievement in one room and a reason to say no in the next.
He went into the next room.
Hollywood, around 1977
01:14
The entire meeting.
According to his agent’s watch.
In the story Schwarzenegger told at Beyond Fest in 2017, his agent had arranged for him to meet producer Dino De Laurentiis about playing a villain.
Dino was sitting behind a desk Arnold remembered as huge, ornate, long, massive. A considerable amount of furniture between the applicant and the opportunity.
Arnold took one look.
“Wow, why does a little guy like you need such a big desk?”
Before Conan.
Before The Terminator.
Already completely Arnold.
The producer’s response
“You have an accent. I cannot use you.”
Meeting over.
He had gone in for a part and opened with a review of the furniture. The desk was enormous. The deference was optional.
His agent was delighted furious. In Arnold’s account, he checked his watch: one minute and fourteen seconds. The shortest meeting he had ever had.
“Thanks a lot, Arnold. Really helpful when you open your mouth.”
He seems to have recovered.
Bodybuilder.
Movie star.
Governor of California.
Accent retained.
They were so sure. He was too.
And then it got more interesting
They eventually made Conan the Barbarian together. That wasn’t an instant reconciliation. In Arnold’s telling, De Laurentiis still tried to get him off the project. Director John Milius insisted on keeping him.
Three days into filming, the producer came to the set.
“Hey, Arnold,
you’re Conan.”
The same body. The same voice. Suddenly, exactly the person for the part.
Arnold says De Laurentiis went on to treat him like a son. They became close. When the producer died, Arnold gave a eulogy.
The relationship outgrew its first seventy-four seconds.
A bad meeting doesn’t have to become your whole biography.
The people deciding whether you fit usually have an existing role in mind. You may have a different idea of what you could become.
Confidence helps you keep going. The work gives somebody else a reason to reconsider.
There will be more rooms. More people. Occasionally, a smaller desk.
For unreasonable transitions.
People willing to continue despite:
Prior experience optional.
Permission unlikely.
Consensus not required.
No guarantees.
Compensation, occasionally: history.
Bring the accent. Bring the odd background. Bring whatever doesn’t quite fit the description.
Go anyway.
Your turn.
Somebody was certain about you. Perhaps they had a title. Perhaps they were just very good at sounding certain. What did they say?
For example, “You'll never make a living at that.”
Find out.
Don't let borrowed limits decide your life.
They were so sure. We have a whole collection of futures built by people willing to be slightly less sure.
Turns out the future has a long history of ignoring excellent advice. We intend to continue the tradition.
Keep the useful advice. Keep your say in what happens next.
The meeting, the timing, the Conan exchange and the later friendship follow Schwarzenegger’s account at Beyond Fest in 2017. Conan the Barbarian was released in 1982. The first photograph is a public-domain 1974 Mr. Olympia press photo. Photo and story notes.