Five days before Milan Carter had a chemistry read with Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role of Barry in FUBAR, the actor became a dad for the first time. Just like Schwarzenegger’s character, Luke Brunner, Carter found himself juggling fatherhood and work. “I had an infant in my hand as I’m doing the audition with Arnold. I do the audition and I’m like, ‘Yo, I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed,’ ” Carter tells Tudum. 

“I did at least 50 self tapes before I picked one to send in,” he recalls. “Then from that, I narrowed down to four. I was like, ‘I’m going to send them all in. Hopefully one of these will work.’ ” In the script, Barry is described as a “nerd” and “man-child,” but Carter wanted to put his own spin on the character. “I’m not going to be stereotypical because I’ve been a nerd all my life,” he says. “So I got to give my flavor. And if I do it my way, hopefully they’ll see a difference.” His creative choice paid off because he ended up landing the role of the savvy computer wizard. You can check out Carter’s audition tape above. 

Working with Schwarzenegger was a dream come true, and Carter knew he had to bring his A-game to set. To prepare, he ran lines with just about anyone. “If you’re the cashier at the supermarket, if you’re serving my food at a restaurant, I’d say, ‘Hey, can you run these lines with me?’ I was a waiter, so I felt comfortable,” says Carter. Although Schwarzenegger has done almost everything from bodybuilding to politics, there was something he couldn’t beat Carter at: chess. “There’s not many things I think I could beat Arnold in, but chess is one of them. That’s my claim to fame for the rest of my life,” he laughs.

FUBAR is now streaming on Netflix. 

FUBAR Season 1 TrailerSaving the world runs in the family.