The seed for the idea of ‘The Terminator’ came from a terrible fever dream that James Cameron had while filming another movie. According to James, he dreamt of a “metal death figure coming out of a fire.”
Cameron’s agent hated the idea for ‘The Terminator.’ Therefore, Cameron fired him and sold his script to producer Gale Anne Hurd for a dollar, with the stipulation that he be allowed to direct his vision.
Harlan Ellison won a settlement from Cameron for claiming that ‘The Terminator’ was ripped off from one of his ideas. Cameron later referred to Ellison as a “parasite who can kiss my @$$.”
Lance Henriksen got into the movie by literally kicking the door open dressed in a leather jacket with tin foil on his teeth. Although he didn’t land the role as the lead Terminator, he got a role as Detective Hal.
Cameron had a vision and did not enjoy being told what things needed to be altered. However, he did listen to one particular piece of advice:
1. Give Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor a stronger relationship.
He also tried to give Reese a cyborg dog as a sidekick, but that didn’t end up happening.
The studio originally wanted OJ SImpson to play the T-800, but ultimately it was decided that people would think that he was ‘too nice of a guy.’
Arnold was initially set to play Kyle Reese, but Cameron convinced him to play the bad guy after Arnold kep making suggestions about how the Terminator should be portrayed.
People who were on the radar to play Kyle Reese: Sting, Matt Dillon, Kurt Russell, Tommy Lee Jones, Mickey Rourke, Michael O’Keefe, Scott Glenn, Treat Williams, Christopher Reeve, and Mel Gibson.
Linda Hamliton was not happy about Arnold signing on as theTerminator because she felt he was too green as an actor. “I was a snotty New York actress, you know,” she said in an interview.
Because Arnold had trouble pronouncing “I’ll”, he tried to change the line to “I will be back.” Cameron responded with: “Don’t tell me how to write. I don’t tell you how to act.”
Schwarzenegger speaks only 58 words in the film.
Linda Hamilton had broken her ankle shortly before filming began. Thusly, any scenes where she’s running away from The Terminator were shot near the end of the filming proccess.
“If you own an Apple II, and you enter ] call -151 * p at the basic prompt, you get the Terminator’s view.”
In Poland, the film was released as “The Electronic Murderer.”
The teaser trailer was narrated by the voice of Optimus Prime.
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I've programmed a LOT in Apple ]['s 6502 assembly, and i paused Terminator a lot to look at the screens. Call me a nerd, but I call this fact as BS