Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will earn $3 million to star in a funny Bud Light commercial on Super Bowl Sunday, marking a rare advertising appearance in the United States for the movie star-turned politician.
The ex-body builder, who still maintains a personal focus on health and fitness, is joining a long list of celebrities who will take home huge paychecks for Super Bowl spots,
reports the New York Post.
Schwarzenegger has shot advertisements in Japan in the past, including
spots for beer and for a
Japanese energy drink in 2006, while he was still governor of California. But he has declined to comment on his upcoming Super Bowl spot.
"Arnold has shot a series of ads in Japan, but pretty much hasn't done anything in the U.S.," a source told the Post. "Persuading him to promote a beer is a big coup for Bud Light."
The former governor, still in the midst of a divorce from Maria Shriver, has three films due out this year, including another installment from his "Expendables" franchise. In addition, he'll be back in 2015 in another movie now in the works, "Terminator: Genesis."
Schwarzenegger also is involved in Showtime's "
Years of Living Dangerously," where he joins a long list of executive producers that includes Jerry Weintraub and James Cameron in a program featuring celebrity correspondents who illustrate the consequences of global warming by focusing attention on such things as wildfires, polar ice melting, and world food shortages.
This year's Super Bowl will also feature ads by other big celebrities, including actors Lawrence Fishburne, Scarlett Johansson, and Ben Kingsley, along with former soccer star David Beckham and race car driver Danica Patrick.
Johansson will appear in a
SodaStream ad, while Kingsley will push cars for Jaguar. A Kia Motors ad calls for Fishburne to reprise his role as Morpheus in the "Matrix" to promote the K900 sedan. Patrick will again be featured in a GoDaddy.com ad, while Beckham will promote his new bodywear clothing line in a commercial for retailer H&M.
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