How the director of Netflix's Arnold Schwarzenegger docuseries captured the Arnold we've never seen before

• "Arnold" director Lesley Chilcott told Insider how she got Arnold Schwarzenegger to open up like never before.
• Schwarzenegger spoke candidly about his divorce from Maria Shriver.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a man whose mystique is as massive as the characters he's played on the big screen.

He became the face of bodybuilding in the 1970s before pivoting to Hollywood the decade after, making a name for himself as one of the founding fathers of the Hollywood action movie. Then in 2003, he made an unlikely move into politics as the governor of California.

With such a wide-spanning, larger-than-life career to dive into, director Lesley Chilcott faced a massive challenge when she agreed to direct a three-part docuseries for Netflix on the legend's life: How in the world would she be able to showcase the individual behind the icon?

Chilcott teamed up with producer Allen Hughes — who previously directed acclaimed docuseries about the personal sides of icons Dr. Dre (HBO's "The Defiant Ones") and Tupac Shakur (FX's "Dear Mama) — to successfully pull off the in-depth look at Schwarzenegger that is "Arnold," now streaming on Netflix.

Broken up into three chapters — "Athlete," "Actor," and "American" — Chilcott conducts over 40 hours of interviews with the star, stripping away the catchphrases and cigar-chomping egotism that Schwarzenegger has worn on his sleeve for decades to reveal a man who came from very humble beginnings in Austria and used an unshakable drive to conquer the world and become one of the most recognizable figures of the late 20th century.

"A friend of his put it best: Arnold sees around corners and I still don't know if he's following things or predicting things or setting things," Chilcott told Insider on the aura that surrounds Schwarzenegger. "That's a delicious mystery for a filmmaker to kind of unpack. Especially with someone like Arnold who spreads his catchphrases in a way that they can't be stopped."

To get Schwarzenegger to stay on topic, Chilcott would 'keep asking the question until he gave a real answer'

Along with celebrating Schwarzenegger's triumphs, Chilcott said she wanted the docuseries to convey to viewers the hard work and determination he put into making his vision of becoming a success a reality.

Chilcott commends Schwarzenegger for keeping his word to agree to talk about any topic that came up in their conversations.

"I would keep asking the question until he gave a real answer," she said about bringing up sensitive topics. "And he was willing to go there and I think that partially has to do with where he is in his life. He was willing to show sides of him that he'd never shown before, but that was the biggest challenge."

"He's naturally a great storyteller and an entertainer," she continued. "I mean, even when I would ask him to go more in-depth or hit more on an issue, he would say, 'Lesley, why don't you just make the documentary longer so you don't have to keep asking me.'"

In fact, Chilcott said she did ask Netflix to expand the docuseries to four episodes, but the streamer passed.

Schwarzenegger also talks candidly about his childhood, which included abuse from his father, and how he was making millions before hitting it big in movies thanks to his business ventures, which included owning real estate around Los Angeles.

"Real estate, investing in art, those things really affected him," Chilcott said. "But when his voice was overdubbed in 'Hercules in New York,' the fact that he could wait and keep trying acting was because he had his mail order business, which had to do with bodybuilding. He literally had a closet with pamphlets in it. Checks would come in the mail and he would mail the pamphlets out."

So if acting didn't work out, does she think Arnold could have gone on to become a successful businessman?

"Probably but that's not Arnold," she said. "That's not his goal of combining his, as he says, Austrian discipline with the American sense of opportunity to conquer the world."

Chilcott waited 6 months into filming to finally talk to Schwarzenegger about his divorce and infidelity

In "Arnold," Schwarzenegger talks in detail for the first time ever about his failed marriage to Maria Shriver and his infidelity, which included an affair with their housekeeper that led to the birth of a son. Chilcott did ask Shriver to be in the docuseries, but she declined. Shriver filed for divorce in 2011; it was finalized a decade later in 2021.

But these conversations were among the hardest to get on camera.

"It was a good six months in where I felt he was ready," said Chilcott. "It was a tough day for him and he was willing to go there and talk about all these issues and he was exhausted afterward."

Made over the span of two-plus years, Chilcott traveled the globe to track down Schwarzenegger. And when she couldn't get him on camera, she spent hours on the phone or FaceTime with him. Though Chilcott knew these chats may never make it into "Arnold," it was a way to bring a deeper connection between her and her subject.

So when it was time to talk about difficult topics face-to-face, there was an established comfort between them.

Chilcott also built trust by riding around with Schwarzenegger in an old tank he used to drive when he was in the Austrian army and showing up at his childhood home before filming to reorganize his bedroom so it looked like how it was when he was a kid.

"When you do a documentary, you have to earn a person's trust in order for them to go certain places. It's a process and he was very willing, but he wants other people to have fun as well," Chilcott said. "He doesn't want to be the only person having fun. So he would joke around with the crew. He would sit down and look at me with the cameras and go, 'Okay, what do you want to know?' He has this sense of humor that I think more than anything carries him through life."

But after spotlighting a man who lives in his own mythology — most of the interviews are done in his home where he is surrounded by movie memorabilia from his biggest hits, and he even reflects on his life while leafing through a giant book containing pictures of himself (which will actually be published soon by Taschen) — does she believe she ever met the real Arnold Schwarzenegger?

"That's why I did so many conversations on FaceTime and audio-only interviews," she said. "There's a shift in him when he's talking sincerely and relaxing. It's why I did the interviews at his house, where he's comfortable. It's why I go see his mini donkey and mini horse every morning before we started. We got there."