Starting a new job with a bang is definitely a lesson that Arnold ‘The Governator’ Schwarzenegger has been teaching the world by driving a tank over a Mercedes-Benz.
Arnold is Netflix’s new Chief Action Officer and he announced it last weekend in a video in which he drove his own M47 Patton over two different Mercs outside the media company’s offices.
“I drove this exact tank when I was an 18-year-old in the Austrian army, and many years later I was fortunate enough to be able to bring it to the US. So when Netflix wanted to name me as CAO, I jumped at the opportunity to have a little fun with the tank,” Arnold explained.
The move is strangely reminiscent of Elon Musk walking into the Twitter offices with a bathroom sink and tweeting ‘Let it sink in’ after he took over the social media company.
With the main difference being that Arnold is easily the most qualified candidate for his new job.
The 75-year-old actor and former California governor performed the stunt himself, enjoying every minute of it.
He plans to bring more of his action-loving, chopper-jumping, cookie-crushing side to Netflix’s docket of films.
“I’ve always been passionate about delivering the best action possible, whether it was in my films like Terminator, in my new action comedy FUBAR or now as the chief action officer,” he told reporters. “The toughest part is that I love action so much, I want to put it into everything I watch ... romantic comedies, stand-up, dramas — all candidates for more explosions in my opinion.”
The Austrian army had buried the tank as part of a decommissioning effort after Arnold had served. But when he reached out and said he wanted it, they dug it up, restored it and he now uses it to raise money for charity.
For this video, the Terminator performed the stunt in just two takes, bulldozing over two different cars with the support of the stunt team he’s worked with for 30 years.
The publicity move came alongside the release of Arnold’s latest TV series - FUBAR, in which a CIA operative on the verge of retirement discovers a family secret and is forced to go back into the field for one last job.
Another docuseries, Arnold, focusing on the action star, is set to be released on June 7.