Interesting Terminator Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

The Terminator premiered on January 11, 1985. The history of the series’ inception, interesting moments from filmmaking, and incidents from the set have been sorted out countless times in the more than a third of a century since the release of the first fantasy action film in the series. However, there are always facts that are almost never acknowledged. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

James Cameron saw the idea for the Terminator in a dream

If you believe James Cameron, the creator of “Terminator,” the concept for the film came to him in a dream. He fell severely unwell and had a fever during the filming of the sequel “Piranha.” Cameron saw a steel robot with a knife in his hand emerging from the fire in a dream.

“I once dreamed of a metal skeleton coming out of a fire – a humanoid construct, invulnerable and soulless, obsessed with the sole purpose of killing, sweeping away everything in its path. The image was so voluminous and real that I woke up in a cold sweat. For some time I could not recover from horror: a lot of time passed before I realized that nothing threatened me.”

The filmmaker jumped out of bed and instantly sketched his nightmare. When he returned to the United States, he made the clear decision that sleep would be the foundation of a new major endeavor. He had no idea how to carry out his concept because nothing like it had ever been done before.

The plot could be used in the future, but finding such a project was absurd for the unknown Cameron, who was booted out of the filming of Piranhas with a bang. However, he framed time travel, which allowed the action of the film to be moved to the present day, substantially simplifying the work.

After that, the film’s plot was born. Cameron’s first wife worked as a waitress, and many people believe she was the inspiration for Sarah Connor. The author was inspired by the works of his favorite science fiction writers, Philip K. Dick, Larry Niven, and Harlan Ellison while working on the narrative.

It’s also important to note that Ellison eventually sued the Terminator’s creators, claiming that the plot was stolen from him. In this case, the writer was given a specified amount of money and was acknowledged in the film’s credits with the phrase “Recognition to Harlan Ellison for his work.”

The Terminator could be O.J. Simpson or Lance Henriksen

Many people have heard that O. Jay Simpson was one of the leading candidates for the role of a future killer robot. However, few people are aware that before Schwarzenegger’s appearance, Lance Henriksen’s candidacy was seriously considered.

Cameron had no intention of making the Terminator a prominent figure at first. The robot was supposed to be a small, inconspicuous figure that could blend in to the crowd, according to his idea. It seemed logical from the killer’s point of view to infiltrating the human community.

According to Cameron, Lance Henriksen, with whom he became friends on the production of Piranhas, fit well into the concept of the original idea. Several sketches were also made with Lance in the role of a killer robot.

 For investors, there was also a little but spectacular performance. Although Schwarzenegger was already a well-known actor at the time, Cameron was hesitant to cast a 35-year-old bodybuilder with a German accent in the role of Reese, who was 22 years old at the time.

As it turned out, Schwarzenegger was not really interested in taking part in Cameron’s project, but if he did, it was only in the role of the Terminator himself.

When the director saw the actor, he instantly sketched out a sketch of him as a robot, and the situation was quickly settled in Arnold’s favor.

Where did I’ll Be Back come from

Schwarzenegger had recently become a US citizen at the time of filming. He spoke with a terrible German accent, which can still be heard in the star’s voice to a certain level. Despite his laconic role, the Terminator had to speak on the screen.

According to evidence, the actor struggled the most with the iconic phrase “I’ll Be Back.” By the way, it used to be called “I’ll Come Back,” and no one knows who decided to change it. Schwarzenegger was concerned that he would have trouble pronouncing the sentence and requested that it should be changed to “I’ll Be Back.” He explained this by claiming that “I’ll Be Back” doesn’t sound masculine enough.  Cameron reacted by yelling at the actor, telling him not to teach him how to work on the screenplay. Iron Arnie had no choice but to accept, and he spent a significant amount of time rehearsing speaking this key phrase.

The actor’s pay was 750 thousand dollars, therefore it’s easy to figure out that he was paid roughly $10,000 per word. Schwarzenegger was already paid $15 million, or $21,000 per word, for the sequel to “Terminator,” for which he had to say 700 words. The budget is quite modest.   Today, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pay for appearing in the original “Terminator” seems puzzling. However, it should be noted that the full movie cost only $6.5 million to produce, which is about the same as a 30-second ad in the Super Bowl final today. Even in the early 1980s, money was tight, and the team had to cut and save on everything while production.

Very Modest Budget

The film’s last scene was supposed to be an episode with a fuel truck explosion, in which the main characters embrace each other. The film’s producer, John Daly, liked the ending, but it didn’t suit well with Cameron. “You’re fucked! The movie hasn’t finished yet!” (The movie hasn’t been completed yet!) – the director said during the finale discussion that he would do things his way.

The film’s producers remembered this and irritated Cameron by cutting the film’s advertising budget as much as possible. Due to financial reasons, it was necessary to shoot utilizing less-than-legal methods. Schwarzenegger remembered being thrown into a film crew’s minibus and dropped off on a barren street beside a lonely parked car.

He was informed by the director, “See that car over there?” She’s all set to film. You approach the driver’s door at my signal, glance around, smash the glass, open the door, get behind the wheel, start the car, and drive away. Later, it was discovered that the scene had to be filmed without the permission of the city authorities due to a lack of funds. Everything went off without frightened passersby or police interference because the scene was captured in such a casual and unsafe manner.

While filming the scene in which Sarah Connor’s SUV pulls off into the distance, another strange thing occurred. They chose a desert area where no one lives for the scene.

But, just as everything was getting ready for filming, a police car appeared out of nowhere, and the officer who got out of it demanded clearly that to show permission to shoot.

Unexpectedly, a way out of the problem was found. One of the filming participants explained to the cop that he was filming a course project for a film school. The police officer pretended to be a “poor student” and did not interfere with the filming. Moreover, a police officer volunteered to help the film crew, making the day especially productive.

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Material not included in the film

The plot of the film “Terminator” was continually being finalized while working on it. Some points were added, others were changed, and still, others had to be deleted completely.

They decided to cut scenes from the movie where the killer robot… eats, for example. It was originally planned that the Terminator would have to eat in order to maintain his human body shell. The subplot featuring Kyle Reese’s death during an unsuccessful time travel attempt was also removed from the film. Despite producers’ frequent attempts to interfere and a limited budget, the film’s overall concept was preserved.

During the editing process, Cameron made the bold decision to cut out some sequences. To avoid future wars, the scene in which Reese and Sarah Connor resolve to blow up the Cyberdyne Systems building was deleted. Another deleted episode shows a worker finding the destroyed Terminator’s processor.

It also becomes evident at this point that the film’s climax does not take place in a typical factory, but rather in a Cyberdyne Systems-owned facility. Later on, it became clear that the move was entirely justifiable.

 “Aliens” appeared, thanks to the “Terminator”

Few people are well aware that “Terminator” is directly linked to James Cameron’s next high-profile project, “Aliens.” The saga of alien monsters would almost certainly not exist if it weren’t for a film about a robot from the future. The Terminator was set to begin filming in Toronto in the fall of 1983.

But, thanks to producer Dino De Laurentiis was able to find a loophole in Schwarzenegger’s contract and recruit him to his Conan the Destroyer project. As a result, Cameron’s work schedule revealed an amazing gap of over nine months. Cameron, ever the doer, couldn’t sit still and decided to use his unexpected vacation to write a screenplay for sale. The filmmaker was meeting with producers Walter Hill and David Giler at the time, and one of them mentioned “Alien.”

As a result, Cameron set to work on the script, which turned out to be very good. At first, there was a treatment that the customers liked and Cameron was given the go-ahead to write a full-fledged script. He was also promised that if the “Terminator” is successful, then the new film will be shot only with the participation of the director.

As we all know, The Terminator turned out to be a fantastic film, and Cameron was chosen to make the alien-themed sequel. The plot of the director’s previous film was also referenced in the script for “Aliens.” The android Bishop, who was still played by Lance Henriksen, reveals in one of the film’s sequences that the nasty robot Ash from the first half of the film was produced by Cyberdyne Systems. Cameron later changed the firm’s name to eliminate all parallels.