Will he be back? Arnold Schwarzenegger could return to movies

Arnold Schwarzenegger is willing to consider a return to the movies, he said in an interview to mark his departure from the post of governor of California on Monday.

Schwarzenegger told Variety magazine [paywall] he had not yet decided what to do with his future, but confirmed that acting was on the list of possibilities. The Austrian-born former bodybuilder recently took a cameo in the Sylvester Stallone action movie The Expendables, further signalling, perhaps, his willingness to return to the big screen following seven years in political office.

"The list is a long list of things I can do, but nothing I can concentrate on until I am literally, totally out of office," Schwarzenegger said. "For me the joy of life is not to know, and you get into it and you kind of figure it out. I love that. I don't like safety nets. I am not a believer in that … So you go in there with an open mind and you have to learn very quickly."

Schwarzenegger, who ended his California tenure with a low approval rating and might struggle to continue a career in politics, said he did not think it would be a problem to return to acting. "It is like bicycling, or like skiing," he said. "You get on it and you feel like there is no time lapse there at all."

During his time out of the spotlight, no action star has emerged to challenge the eminent position Schwarzenegger won in the 1980s and 90s. Yet at 63 he might struggle to return to high-octane fare. On the other hand, The Expendables, headlined by a 64-year-old Stallone with support from younger stars, turned out to be one of last year's most successful action films. Stranger things have happened.