The Terminator gets some gay assistance in new sequel

PlanetOut.com reports that the Terminator will get some fashion assistance from gay strippers in the new sequel, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which opens in theaters July 2. Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger tells critic Paul Fischer that the film opens with a naked, time-traveling Terminator going into a gay strip club looking for clothes and finding a black leather ensemble that he wears for the remainder of the movie. "I think that the Terminator has been established with leather," says Schwarzenegger, adding, with some hyperbole, "It's the most memorable kind of outfit I would say that was created for any character in the history of motion pictures." Sounding like equal parts movie star and aspiring politician--scuttlebutt has Schwarzenegger actively seeking the Republican nomination for governor of California--the star denied that the scene would necessarily make the Terminator a gay icon: "I think that the gay population is part of our society, and that because the Terminator character is an icon character for people that are gay or not gay, it has nothing to do with their sexual preference. I think he's just an icon, period. I mean, kids don't even think about that yet when they're 8, 9 years old and idolize the Terminator."