Before the likes of Terminator and Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger got his big break when he landed the title role in 1982's sword-and-sorcery adventure, Conan the Barbarian, but the iconic actor, former body builder and Governor of California did not have the easiest time shooting the fantasy film.
Schwarzenegger has spoken about some of the hardships he was forced to endure while filming Conan in the past, but in his new self-help book and memoir, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, he goes into detail on the crazy stuff director John Milius asked him to do in order to complete the film.
While he admits to learning quite a few new skills, Arnie also reveals that he was requited to do some "terrible shit," including taking a bite out of an actual dead vulture!
“I learned to ride horses and camels and elephants. I learned how to jump from large rocks, how to climb and swing from long ropes, how to fall from a height,” Schwarzenegger writes (via Insider). “I basically went to another vocational school, this one for aspiring action heroes.”
“Then on top of that, Milius had me doing all kinds of terrible shit. I crawled through rocks, take after take, until my forearms bled. I ran from wild dogs that managed to catch me and pull me into a thorn bush,” he continues. “I bit a real, dead vulture that required I wash my mouth out with alcohol after each take. (PETA would have a field day with that one.). On one of the first days of filming, I tore a gash on my back that required forty stitches.”
The scene in question saw a flock of vultures gathers on the tree Conan is tied to, and when one of them gets a bit too close to a wound on his chest, he takes a chunk out of the bird's neck. Fans always assumed that he was biting the fake vulture that was used in the previous shot, but evidently not!
Despite his experiences working on the movie, Schwarzenegger reprised the role for the 1984 sequel, Conan the Destroyer, and has expressed interest in returning for the long-rumored "King Conan," which now appears to have been shelved for good.
Check out the vulture scene for yourselves below.
"Orphaned boy Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is enslaved after his village is destroyed by the forces of vicious necromancer Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), and is compelled to push "The Wheel of Pain" for many years. Once he reaches adulthood, Conan sets off across the prehistoric landscape of the Hyborian Age in search of the man who killed his family and stole his father's sword. With beautiful warrior Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) and archer Subotai (Gerry Lopez), he faces a supernatural evil."