Can you imagine a Terminator movie without Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role? Well, that would’ve been a part of our reality if Schwarzenegger didn’t swoon director James Cameron at the last moment. Cameron once stated that he was so opposed to having Arnold Schwarzenegger in his film that he was willing to sabotage his meeting with him.
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The first movie of the Terminator franchise came out in 1984. After its massive success, the duo made a total of six installments of the movie which were released over the next three decades. The most recent part, Terminator: Dark Fate was released in 2019.
James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first meeting
In an interview with Games Radar in 2009, Cameron revealed that he wasn’t keen on having Arnold Schwarzenegger in his movie. Therefore, he was ready to go to extreme lengths to sabotage the deal. Cameron had planned to pick a fight with the actor to present him in a bad light. However, everything changed when he finally met the guy.
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Cameron discussed his initial goals, as well as how they changed after meeting Schwarzenegger. “That was my agenda: to get in an argument and come back and say he was an a**hole. But he was so charming and so into the script. Even though he made me smoke a cigar that made me sick for six hours,” said the Terminator director.
Arnold’s understanding of the depth of the character is what paved the way to Cameron’s good books. The analysis Schwarzenegger gave of the character made James Cameron offer the role to him.
From Kyle Reese to The Terminator
The first role offered to Schwarzenegger in the franchise wasn’t that of The Terminator though. Instead, the filmmakers wanted to cast him as Kyle Reese, the resistance fighter. Originally, O. J. Simpson was the first choice for the role of the Terminator. Cameron, on the other hand, was not a fan of Simpson in that position.
While the decision makers were indecisive about whom to cast in what role, Schwarzenegger got “fixated” on the role of the Terminator. His enthusiasm for the role reflected in his meeting with Cameron. Cameron, seeing this, decided to offer him the part of Terminator instead.
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Let us know in the comments section if you can think of an actor who would’ve been a better choice for the role.
Written by
Edited by
Anupama Ghosh