“Cut their throats and shoot them with a cannon”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Was “Suspicious” of James Cameron’s $520M Sequel That Revolutionized CGI in Films

Back in the 80s, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger would go toe to toe against each other as they were two of the biggest names in Hollywood at that time. This rivalry would result in the two being adamant about starring in numerous classics, in order to outperform one another. And with Stallone becoming a more prominent star through First Blood, Schwarzenegger was set to elevate his level through James Cameron’s The Terminator franchise.

Following the success of the first film in the franchise, which saw the Mr. Olympia champion as a murderous cyborg, the actor was ready to double down on that formula in the sequel to surpass Stallone. However, he was initially suspicious of Cameron’s vision for the sequel, as the actor wasn’t sure if it was going to work.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t initially on board with James Cameron’s vision for Terminator 2

With every entry in the Rambo franchise during the 80s, Sylvester Stallone was pushing the bar of action films to limits while maintaining a staggering kill count, and Schwarzenegger wasn’t ready to miss out. However, unlike the first Terminator, which witnessed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character killing around 68 people, James Cameron had different plans for the sequel, as instead of killing people in Terminator 2, the actor was going to be the good guy who was tasked to protect John Connor.

Although the Total Recall star had his doubts about this change, he later commended James Cameron for this brilliant decision after witnessing the success of the sequel. He explained,

“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. He said ‘I want to make you a good Terminator.’”

Even though The Terminator star was happy with the end product, Schwarzenegger did bump heads with Cameron when he realized he wasn’t going to kill people onscreen.

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James Cameron called Arnold Schwarzenegger a very sick guy for his demands

Following his fierce rivalry with Stallone in his heyday, Arnold Schwarzenegger was adamant about having a higher kill count onscreen than his rival and knew Terminator 2 was the perfect opportunity. But when Cameron instructed the actor he was not going to kill any people, The Terminator star wasn’t initially onboard with this idea, which led the director to call him a sick individual for his brutal demands. Schwarzenegger recalled,

“I said ‘What do you mean a good Terminator?’ I was killing 68 people in the first one. 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’… 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.’ 

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Although his desire to outnumber the Rambo star’s onscreen kill count wasn’t fulfilled with The Terminator sequel, the movie did go on to become one of the greatest sequels ever made.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Deadline