“Never Got That Chance”- Lou Ferrigno Regretted Taking on His Role Against Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Pumping Iron Documentary

Former bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno spent a good chunk of his life pursuing fame as an actor. He is famous for playing the title role in the ‘Incredible Hulk’ television series. As a bodybuilder, he won two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles, along with a Mr. America title. Earlier in his career, he trained alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But what launched Ferrigno into fame was his role in the documentary ‘Pumping Iron’. The documentary centers on Ferrigno’s attempt to beat Schwarzenegger for the Mr. Olympia title in 1975.

Lou Ferrigno shares his biggest regret

Lou Ferrigno’s 6-foot 5-inch stature and status as the underdog played a key role in creating hype for the ‘Battle of the Giants’. But if you ask the man himself, he wasn’t nearly as prepared as he should have been to face Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Mr. Olympia stage.

“My regrets are when I did Pumping Iron, I was a different person back then. I had a difficult relationship with my father. I only trained 9 weeks for the Olympia South Africa because prior to that I was training for ABC’s Superstars competition,” Ferrigno told Ron Harris.

When George Butler, director of ‘Pumping Iron’, offered him the role of the primary nemesis of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ferrigno took it. “My only regret was that I was planning and hoped to reach my full potential and beat Arnold because he was five years older, but I never got that chance.”

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At the time, Schwarzenegger had decided to quit bodybuilding after winning his fifth Mr. Olympia title in 1974. But Butler had convinced him that ‘Pumping Iron’ would be a good way to promote his acting career. And so they made the film.

Arnold Schwarzenegger changed the game with ‘Pumping Iron’

Originally, Butler’s vision was to put Ferrigno in the role of the “villain”. The man trained by his policeman father to beat Schwarzenegger in South Africa. The events of the film were dramatized to draw the audience’s attention, so the famous psyche-out scenes were staged.

In reality, there was little chance of Ferrigno beating Schwarzenegger. The ‘cocky veteran’ inevitably won and Ferrigno’s ‘insecure underdog’ character was lost. But the dynamic fascinated the critics, and the documentary launched bodybuilding into the mainstream.

‘Pumping Iron’ became a cult classic, and Ferrigno acknowledged the bigger picture. “The way I look at it, it didn’t matter if I won, [it] didn’t matter if I lost. It was all about reaching out to the mainstream and educating the public on what bodybuilding really is,” he added.

Over 40 years later, fans still remember the rivalry between Ferrigno and Schwarzenegger. Both of them pivoted to acting, Schwarzenegger building a blockbuster career and even serving a stint as the governor of California. Ferrigno, on the other hand, started his TV career with the ‘Incredible Hulk’ and later played Hercules on the silver screen.

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