How Schwarzenegger rumor spread

There are now dozens and dozens of stories on the Internet reporting that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "will appear" in the next Terminator trilogy and act as executive producer. The rights to the science fiction epic were purchased by The Halcyon Company, but no decision has been made about using Schwarzenegger's archival images in the movie and certainly nothing has been decided about him doing a cameo in "Terminator 4."

The original story is false, including a fake name - Annabelle Gross, who was passed off as a Schwarzenegger representative - and fabricated quotes attributed to a co-founder of The Halcyon Company.

Just for fun, I tried to track down how this rumor was started. A spokesman for Halcyon, former L.A. Times editor Mark Saylor, also spent yesterday trying to quash the rumor. Clint Morris with Moviehole.net, which used the report, also investigated and pulled the story when he discovered it was false.

The story was reported by a Schwarzenegger fan who goes by the name of ABking. This Arnold super-fan now says he passed along false information that he collected from other people. In an email exchange, he writes:

"Hi Robert,

"This is ABking, known on the internet as the BIGGEST Schwarzenegger and Stallone fan. The rumor regarding Arnie starring in the new TERMINATOR Trilogy got out of hand after I reported it to Movie Hole.

"I was passed along this info from someone from the INTERNET MOVIE DATA BASE who claimed they got there info from an upcoming issue of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY magazine.

"Next time I'll be sure to check my sources before this happens again. I appologize to Governor Schwarzeneggers camp, Clint at MovieHole ... and the guys at The Halcyon Company.

"ABking"

ABking is a frequent contributor to a site called The Arnold Fans, which is devoted to every detail imaginable about the governor's movie career and beyond. ("Warren E. Motts discusses Arnold's M47 Tank!") For some contributors, I have to believe there is tremendous pressure to perpetuate the dream that Schwarzenegger is returning to Hollywood. It's easy to believe Schwarzenegger wants to be executive producer of the next "Terminator" trilogy, and I won't be surprised if he gets involved.

(UPDATE: The item appears to have been taken, indeed, from IMDB. Here is the original posting (free registration required) from four days ago from someone named "rjsinverts" on the site's message board. That item was taken whole, and passed around without verification.)

Randy Jennings, who runs The Arnold Fans site, posted a notice saying he thought the information was legitimate because he was told it came from Entertainment Weekly. But then:

"A few hours later, when I was told by our staff member that he received this news from a Stallone fansite, I had a bad hunch this story was fabricated and we pulled the story immediately. Apparently an Arnold/Sly super-fan made up the Entertainment Weekly source and the whole scoop. Although our misleading story was only online for a few hours before it was pulled, it had already been picked up by major entertainment sites."

(Photos: MGM Home Entertainment)