James Cameron‘s decision to blow up the premise of his “Terminator” franchise led to one of the most successful sequels of all time. Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s eponymous cyborg was portrayed as a cold blooded villain in the first film, but returned as a hero protecting the very family he was originally sent to destroy in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.”
The change produced many of the most iconic moments of Schwarzenegger’s film career — but the actor wasn’t convinced it was going to work.
At a panel discussion held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures before a screening of “Terminator 2” on Wednesday night, Schwarzenegger heaped praise on Cameron’s writing abilities before recalling his initial skepticism about the shakeup.
“The reason why it became a big hit was, number one, Jim Cameron. Jim Cameron is a genius writer. He came up with this brilliant idea, even though at the beginning I was suspicious,” Schwarzenegger said. “He said ‘I want to make you a good Terminator.’”
Schwarzenegger says that he tried to convince Cameron to double down on the brutality of the first film, but the action icon admitted that his desire for violence was partially motivated by his box office rivalry with Sylvester Stallone.
“I said ‘What do you mean a good Terminator?’ I was killing 68 people in the first one,” he said. “In the second one I have to kill 150. We go up! Cut their throats and shoot them with a cannon and run them over with a car.’ I had to outdo Stallone. I said that my whole mission was being number one at killing amounts of people on screen.”
Cameron was unconcerned about Schwarzenegger’s feud with Stallone and decided to move ahead with his initial plan. If anything, his pleas prompted Cameron to remove even more violence from the script.
“He said ‘Arnold, stop it. You’re a very sick guy. I am gonna make sure that in ‘Terminator 2,’ you’re not gonna kill one single person,’” Schwarzenegger said. “I said that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. How can this be ‘Terminator 2’ without me killing anyone? At least throw a few token bodies in there.”
