Arnie bash terminates Matrix overload

WHEN you’re the world’s most famous cyborg, there’s no need to bring your movie along to make a fuss at the Cannes Film Festival.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of the main attractions at Cannes and stole some of the hype around the Matrix Reloaded, though his sci-fi sequel, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, was still under wraps.

With thousands of journalists and celebrity-watchers on hand, Schwarzenegger and his cast mates used Cannes to build the buzz on the flick that opens July 2.

The Croisette, the main drag through Cannes, was closed to traffic Saturday in front of the Carlton Hotel, where hundreds of photographers and fans gathered to watch Schwarzenegger mug for the cameras with some of the robots featured in the movie.

Schwarzenegger promised the crowd the movie would deliver the “best visual effects you’ve ever seen in your life, and incredible stunts”.

The only actual footage from the film was a seven-minute reel of clips shown to journalists. But Schwarzenegger, whose first trip to the festival was in 1977 to promote his bodybuilding movie Pumping Iron, said he has come back many times to plug movies that were not playing the festival, including Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

“The promotion that you can get here, it’s staggering,” he said. “To have that many journalists gathered from all over the world and that many photographers. You have so many messengers here to get the message out.”

Such publicity stunts have become common at Cannes, where promotional blitzes for unfinished films often upstage movies actually competing in the festival.

Two years ago, New Line Cinema fanned anticipation for the first chapter of The Lord of the Rings trilogy by showing about 25 minutes of footage to journalists and bringing in cast and crew for interviews.

Schwarzenegger closed his appearance with a reprise of his most famous line from the Terminator movies.

“Remember, as I always say,” Schwarzenegger said, “I’ll be back”.