Sandy Kenyon sits down with Arnold Schwarzenegger to talk 'Maggie'

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Arnold Schwarzenegger has made headlines in just about every way a person can, as governor of California, tabloid fodder and, most of all, as one of Hollywood's leading tough guys.

Now, he's trying to get back into that role with an unexpected new movie.

His movies have grossed close to $5 billion at the box office, and he served a couple of terms as governor, so what's Schwarzenegger doing in a low-budget horror movie?

"Well, now I'm at the point in my career where it's not the number one priority to make the number one box office," he said in a sit-down interview with entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon. "Or to get the most paid, or to make the biggest-budget movie."

Schwarzenegger gets to show his vulnerable side as a dad when his daughter gets infected with a virus and starts turning into a zombie in "Maggie," much to the dismay of her step-mother, played by Jolie Richardson.

"This is a great script," he said. "And it's totally opposite of what anyone expects me to do."

His co-star has nothing but admiration for Schwarzenegger.

"And as they always say about the strongest people, they are willing to be vulnerable," Richardson said. "And Arnold on-screen in 'Maggie,' the vulnerability just sparks through his eyes."

It is so different than his real-life role as the so-called Governator, but since leaving office and trying his hand at acting again, he's had a few flops. But that doesn't mean he expected it to be easy.

"I was very willing to start again and work my way up to the top," he said.

But complicating his comeback were revelations in his memoir, entitled "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story," that the star-turned-politician had fathered a child with a former employee in his own house.

But he doesn't regret the book.

"I was very happy to write 'Total Recall,'" he said. "Yes, absolutely."

And the reaction to parts of the book did not bother him either.

"No, I feel great," he said.

"Maggie," a Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "disturbing thematic material including bloody images, and some language."