Arnold Schwarzenegger promised he'd be back -- but that was before his governorship, his tabloid scandal and his 65th birthday.

After nearly a decade, the former governor of California is attempting to reignite his career as a Hollywood star.

He has already shot three films, including the ensemble piece 'The Expendables 2,' which opens next week and is the first movie since 2003 to feature him in any role beyond a cameo. He has signed on to star in three more, including a new 'Terminator' installment, for which he has met recently with director James Cameron and producer Megan Ellison, who paid $20 million last year to buy the rights from a hedge fund that bid for the property in a bankruptcy proceeding.

People have underestimated Mr. Schwarzenegger ever since he arrived in the U.S. in 1968 as a bodybuilder with a thick Austrian accent. But resuming a Hollywood career after a decade-long sabbatical won't be easy, especially for a man now carrying a little less muscle tone and a little more personal baggage: In May 2011, a few months after exiting office, Mr. Schwarzenegger admitted that he had fathered a child with a longtime member of his household staff. He delayed getting back in front of the cameras for several months. Mr. Schwarzenegger insists he isn't trying to recreate his glory days.

'I don't need the money,' he said before a recent promotional appearance at Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps Base down the coast from Los Angeles. 'I've been there. I've gotten to the top -- the No. 1 movie of the year and all those things. So now it's a different agenda.'

Part of his agenda is adjusting to a changed Hollywood. As studios have focused increasingly on special effects-laden films built around pre-sold characters from comic books and the like, action stars' place in the firmament is vastly diminished. Neither of this year's biggest domestic hits, 'The Avengers' and 'The Hunger Games,' relied on the strength of a sole marquee name. The $29.3 million upfront fee Mr. Schwarzenegger collected for his last big role, 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' in 2003, would be unthinkable for any actor today. (He sat out the fourth 'Terminator' while he was in office.)

Mr. Schwarzenegger became an international icon through films that exploited his uber-macho, pumped-up image in both earnest ('Total Recall,' 'Conan the Barbarian') and comedic roles ('Twins' and 'Kindergarten Cop'). He never hoisted Oscars for his acting, but he was a larger-than-life screen presence.

He dropped all of that upon his inauguration in 2003, and made a near-absolute retreat from Hollywood for the next seven years.

As soon as he left office in January 2011, Mr. Schwarzenegger and his team of advisors began plotting his transition out of politics. There were plenty of ways Mr. Schwarzenegger could have occupied his time: He's working on his memoirs and launching a policyinstitute at the University of Southern California.

There was also a big job possibility in Washington. Around the end of his second term, Mr. Schwarzenegger was approached by White House officials about a cabinet position, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, however, prefers Hollywood. Even if it is hardly known as a warm and supportive work environment, for him it seems like a safe harbor compared with politics. In Hollywood, 'they see you rising as a star. They see you falling as a star. That is natural,' he said. 'But it's not like, let's get someone. Or, let's tear them down. It's a different mentality.'

There is no template for engineering a second movie career for a former governor. Mr. Schwarzenegger relies on aides and advisers drawn from various facets of his life. In addition to people like his stunt double, Mr. Schwarzenegger's traveling entourage includes a coterie of former administration staffers, including his former special assistant (or 'body man'), his former communications director and his former deputydirector of advance. One of his agents at Creative Artists Agency, Michael Kives, has a background in politics, having interned for President Bill Clinton.

That team mapped out a second, reformulated movie career, one that relies heavily both on what they hope will be moviegoers' nostalgia for their star of yesteryear, and empathy for an aging action hero.

The strategy conceived by his team calls for him to revive hits from his heyday such as 'Triplets' -- the sequel to 'Twins' -- and the next installment of 'The Terminator,' the script for which is in development. And he will seek age-appropriate roles. In 'The Tomb,' a prison-escape thriller, Mr. Schwarzenegger sports gray-flecked hair and a matching goatee. In 'The Last Stand,' he plays a small-town semi-retired sheriff who 'is not pretending to be a 22-year-old,' said Erik Feig, president of production at Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., which is distributing 'The Tomb,' 'The Last Stand' and 'The Expendables 2.'

Mr. Schwarzenegger also is holding out to work with directors he finds especially compelling, like South Korean director Kim Jee-woon, who will make his Hollywood debut with 'The Last Stand.'

'As soon as we heard that there was the potential for him coming back into the business, we definitely wanted to find a movie for him,' said Mr. Feig, . 'To me, he definitely transcends time and he transcends place.'

Mr. Schwarzenegger made two acting appearances during his governorship, both cameos, in 'Around the World in 80 Days' and 'The Expendables' (he shot a third, for 'Bruno,' but it didn't appear in the movie). He declined to consider scripts during his two terms, even during the waning days, when his approval rating was cratering. 'I wouldn't have the meeting,' Mr. Schwarzenegger said. 'I said, I cannot have my foot in this and already put my foot over there.'

These days, when Mr. Schwarzenegger promotes a film, such as when he participated in a Comic-Con International panel with his 'The Expendables 2' co-stars including Sylvester Stallone and Randy Couture, his handlers still prep him as they would have in office, quietly slipping him note cards to review backstage.

He doesn't always follow the script. Introducing a screening of 'The Expendables 2' at Camp Pendleton, he strode onto the stage of the auditorium and grabbed the microphone.

'It is wonderful to be back,' said Mr. Schwarzenegger, outfitted in two-tone brown saddle shoes and a white, short-sleeved oxford shirt. 'And I'll tell you, I'm very impressed with the security here. The security is almost as tight' -- he paused for effect -- 'as Nancy Pelosi's face.'

An audience of military families roared with laughter. Backstage, an aide muttered, 'That wasn't pre-screened.'

Five months after he began lining up projects, including 'The Last Stand,' his family scandal exploded in the press. Maria Shriver, his wife of 25 years, moved out of their Brentwood home. Mr. Schwarzenegger put his movie projects on hold.

Hollywood had to consider whether he would turn off audiences. The answer: no. 'No one outside of America cares,' one of his advisors said. 'It didn't change at all in that sense. Maybe it made domestic studios a little more nervous.'

They may have more to be nervous about. 'The audience these days is very, very young -- they don't know who he is,' said Peter Guber, who was chairman of Sony Pictures when films such as 'Total Recall' and the disappointing 'Last Action Hero' were released. 'He doesn't have the kind of charm [for them] that he did for us.' And for older audiences, he added, 'I think the novelty wears off after the first week.' But, he added: 'You can't ever count him out.'

What Mr. Schwarzenegger can rely on, others say, are his core fans: men and overseas audiences.

'If there would be an issue, it would be with the female base, and I don't think that's where his popularity lies,' said Bill Mechanic, a producer and former chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment.

Lionsgate and other studios are banking on Schwarzenegger's international appeal, especially in China and Russia, as foreign markets account for an increasingly large percentage of Hollywood's box-office haul.

His strength in those markets, plus the Middle East and Latin America, is 'tremendous,' said Bill Block, founder of QED International, the production company behind another of his upcoming films, 'Breacher.' 'It's driving the financing of these movies.'

A film with Mr. Schwarzenegger attached drives up the price for Chinese distribution rights to 'significantly' more than $1 million, for example, whereas most films command between $50,000 and $100,000, Mr. Block said.

In the scrum outside the screening at Camp Pendleton, one fan burst into hysterical tears as Mr. Schwarzenegger approached her to sign autographs. 'Oh my god, it was awesome,' Ashley Stuart said of meeting him. Her favorite movie? 1987's 'Predator.' Her current age? 13.

For now, Mr. Schwarzenegger seems to revel in his ability to slip in and out of a variety of different arenas, always with his some variation of his signature 'Terminator' line at the ready.

During a private reception at Pendleton, Mr. Schwarzenegger marveled when marines showed him a 14-ton armored vehicle the size of a small suburban home, noting half-jokingly that he'd like one for his personal use. An aide remarked that he would enjoy seeing the former governor drive it around Los Angeles -- a slightly larger version of the Hummers he sometimes drives.

'Oh, I would in two seconds,' Mr. Schwarzenegger replied. 'I'd just drive it around and throw the key at the parking attendant. 'Take this car. I will be right back.''