“The batteries would immediately start disintegrating”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Was Literally Drinking Battery Acid for Batman & Robin

SUMMARY

• Arnold Schwarzenegger is a veteran actor known for his iconic filmography in Hollywood.
• The actor had a stain in his career when he starred in the 1997 flick Batman & Robin.
• Well, makeup artist Jeff Dawn revealed that Schwarzenegger had to shove a lightbulb in his mouth for the closeup shots!

It was 1997 when the world received an iconic piece of cinema starring George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Chris O’Donnell. Although Batman & Robin wasn’t one of the finest films out there, it had its moments.

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Terminator in the film series The Terminator | Carolco Pictures

Portraying the role of Mr. Freeze, Arnold Schwarzenegger had to go through some terrible times for make-up. That film probably wouldn’t work according to health and safety regulations in today’s world and trend.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was literally drinking battery acid

For the close-up shots, Schwarzenegger had an LED light shoved in his mouth to give that cringey glow effect with some terrible one-liners. It was a type of safe-for-human acrylic paint to give that frosty look, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze in Batman and Robin | Credits: Warner Bros.

It wasn’t exactly worth it for The Terminator star since the film didn’t do so well. However, the close-up shots were some of the most difficult scenes that Schwarzenegger had to film.

As per a conversation with THR, makeup artist Jeff Dawn revealed that since the bulb was shoved into his mouth, his saliva would start creeping into the seams of the bulb.

Arnold’s saliva would creep into the seams of this thing and attack the batteries. The batteries would immediately start disintegrating and start putting out battery acid into Arnold’s mouth.

This means that Arnold Schwarzenegger was literally drinking battery acid for the close-up shots. Luckily, the actor did not suffer from any adverse health effects.

However, the actor was having a fun time while sitting in his makeup chair since he was frequently visited by his celebrity friends who brought gifts for him.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had his cigars painted white

Back in 1997, the actor was very much in demand and as a result, had a high fee for appearing in movies. For six weeks, the actor was paid a whopping $25 million, (via Looper) but he spent most of the time in his makeup chair.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Batman and Robin | Credits: Warner Bros.

As per makeup artist Jeff Dawn, his good friend Jon Bon Jovi came by and brought some cigars as a gift for Schwarzenegger. He couldn’t smoke them in the scenes but found a way around it.

Jon Bon Jovi came by, and he brought Cuban cigars for Arnold. So Arnold had them color it white so he could smoke it in the scenes.

Well, although the terrible film left a stain on the actor’s Hollywood career, but all in all, it wasn’t that bad of a film… except for the makeup scenes. The film has often been referred to as one of the worst DC films to exist to date.

Released in 1997, Batman & Robin currently stands at a rating of 3.8/10 on IMDb and a record-low of 12% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is available to stream on Max in the U.S.

Written by Visarg Acharya

Articles Published: 2648

Visarg Acharya, Associate Content Writer, has been heavily involved in movies, series, and history. Having an experience of 2 years in the field of content writing, Visarg is a seasoned writer. Having a degree in Physics, Visarg Acharya has published a dissertation alongside a plethora of poems and short stories along the way.