James Cameron opens up about how important casting Arnold Schwarzenegger was to The Terminator.
Speaking to Empire, Cameron discussed the ways in which casting Schwarzenegger rather than a leaner, more brooding actor as he had planned helped cement the legacy of The Terminator and define the franchise as a whole. “I think a lot of directors, especially first-time directors, get very, very stuck in a vision because of insecurity,” Cameron said.I’m proud of the fact that we didn’t get so stuck that we couldn’t see how it could work with Arnold, because that wasn’t our vision.Sometimes, when you look back from a vantage point – at this point 40 years ago – we could have made a beautiful film from a production value standpoint, and it would have been nothing if we hadn't made that decision that captured people's imagination.”
The Terminator starred Schwarzenegger as the titular mechanized menace sent from the future by the malevolent Skynet to ensure humanity's downfall at the hands of their machine overlords. The film also starred Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese, a soldier from the future sent to abort the Terminator's mission by saving the life of Sarah Connor, as famously played by Linda Hamilton. Upon its release, The Terminator was an immediate success with audiences, catapulting it into the realm of pop culture phenomenon: the film's initial theatrical release grossed over $78 million against a budget of less than $6.5 million.
Terminator launched a huge franchise
The Terminator It spawned a multimedia franchise consisting of video games, comic books, countless pieces of merchandise, and numerous feature film sequels starting in 1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Dawn of the Machines in 2003, Terminator Salvation in 2009, Terminator Genisys in 2015, and Terminator: Dark Fate in 2019. In 2008, Lena Headey took on the role of Sarah Connor for the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chroniclesset after the events of the second film and ignored any sequels in its telling of the franchise's main story. The series' first season was met with largely positive reviews from critics, while its second and final season garnered only mediocre reviews overall.
The latest addition to the Terminator franchising, Terminator Zerodebuted on Netflix on August 29. Developed by Mattson Tomlin, Terminator Zero is an eight-episode anime set in Tokyo in 1997. The series follows Malcom Lee, a researcher and scientist who develops an artificial intelligence capable of competing with Skynet. This attracts the attention of the future Skynet and its time-traveling assassins, as well as a band of resistance fighters who send their soldiers back in time to safeguard Lee and his creation.
The Terminator is currently available for streaming on AMC+.
Source: Empire