Although James Cameron’s The Terminator was a massive box office success, which allowed the movie to turn into a franchise, the $78M film faced several issues due to its financiers. According to the director’s ex-wife Gale Anne Hurd, who produced Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie, The Terminator was plagued as Cameron was forced to go beyond his will.
Revealing how the investors forced James Cameron to cast their friends into the $78M movie, Gale Anne Hurd mentioned how the process ended up ruining the film. Stating how Cameron was forced by the financers, Hurd claimed her ex-husband had to cut out a key scene from the 1984 film.
James Cameron Was Insisted By Investors To Cast Their Friends
James Cameron is often known for his perfection and golden touch, which turns most of his films into epic blockbusters. However, one thing that the director deeply despises is being forced to go beyond his will. Nonetheless, the filmmaker actually had to go beyond his will, while shooting his 1984 film featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Reflecting upon the incident James Cameron‘s ex-wife and his film’s producer Gale Anne Hurd revealed how the filmmaker was forced to cast investors’ friends in The Terminator. Sharing a scene from The Terminator via X, Hurd mentioned how they were insisted to cast film financer’s friends in that sequence.
“They insisted we use financier friends not actors in this scene, which ruined it for us.”
#TheTerminator financier John Daly’s #HemdaleFilms had an output deal with #OrionPictures but hadn’t yet made a hit (that changed with our film and #Platoon). They insisted we use financier friends not actors in this scene, which ruined it for us. https://t.co/q5wl5why7N https://t.co/6sM2wUU1Cc
— Gale Anne Hurd (@GunnerGale) August 30, 2023
Gale Anne Hurd later added how the investors’ friends were paid similarly to an actor because of the Taft–Hartley Act. “I think he (John Daly) insisted they be in the film because the financiers were promised a return on their investment and had yet to receive one” Hurd stated.
James Cameron’s Retribution After Being Forced By Investors
Despite being forced by investors to cast their friends in The Terminator and even pay them like actors, James Cameron had a sly way of retaliating against the situation. Discussing how the filmmaker exacted his revenge for being forced, his ex-wife Gale Anne Hurd revealed Cameron snipped the particular scene from the movie before its theatrical release.
Replying to a fan via X, who thought the actors seemed “fine I guess performance-wise,” Hurd responded, “Jim (thankfully) was never satisfied with ‘just ok’, even back then!”
Jim (thankfully) was never satisfied with ‘just ok’, even back then! https://t.co/0WGE1ou24H
— Gale Anne Hurd (@GunnerGale) August 30, 2023
Thus, she revealed that the key scene showing how Cyberdyne Systems got the computer chip that goes inside Terminators, was chopped off by Cameron as revenge.
Yet, The Terminator went on to be a massive success at the box office making $75M, and garnered positive reviews from fans and critics. The commercial success of the film even allowed the director and producer to make five sequels and help launch Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s career. The actor had been quite supportive of the movie which he believes predicted the future of artificial intelligence back when it was a controversial topic.
Watch The Terminator films on Amazon Video.
Source: X
