While Arnold Schwarzenegger promoted his Netflix show FUBAR long before it released on May 25, his docu-series announcement was a pleasant surprise. The Netflix docu-series acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron joined the actor to discuss their rise in Hollywood as a duo and beyond. While discussing The Terminator (1984), James Cameron revealed he had to choose between Arnold Schwarzenegger and the now-disgraced NFL star O.J. Simpson.

Before The Terminator blew up at the box office, Cameron didn’t have much to price his worth. Hence Orion Pictures had a degree of creative control over Cameron’s project. In fact, the studio had narrowed down the list of potential actors to Arnie and Simpson. 39 years later, Cameron and Schwarzenegger explained why O.J. Simpson didn’t make the cut for the $78.3 million box-office phenomenon.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had an advantage over the NFL athlete

While Arnold Schwarzenegger’s portrayal of the T-800 has immortalized The Terminator in pop culture history, things could’ve been different with a single decision taken otherwise. Mike Medavoy, the co-founder of Orion, recommended the bodybuilding icon should play the role of the time-traveling protagonist Kyle Reese, while the NFL athlete plays the robot assassin.

Medavoy was so confident he had the right actors for the roles he told Cameron, “the movie was all cast.” However, the filmmaker hadn’t even seen the actors he would supposedly work with. “Those two names just sounded so wrong to me,” he said in the docu-series. However, when Cameron met Arnie, he knew the seven-time Mr. Olympia would be the perfect fit for the T-800.

In fact, the filmmaker altered his original plans of making the robot an inconspicuous, silent assassin to intimidating, muscular, and towering. Schwarzenegger said, after the meeting, no one had faith in Simpson. “No one was hooked to O.J. Simpson playing Terminator because he could not be sold as a killing machine,” he said in episode 2. Little did they know, they avoided disaster.

The Terminator franchise avoided disaster

Had the creative minds behind The Terminator cast O.J. Simpson, the franchise wouldn’t have fared well a decade later. In 1994, the NFL athlete became the centerpiece of “The trial of the century.” Simpson was accused of being the prime suspect of his wife’s murder. The trial turned the American public against anything related to O.J. Simpson.

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This would’ve been especially damaging for the franchise. While The Terminator earned almost $80 million at the box office in 1984, its long-awaited 1991 sequel earned nearly $520 million. In the 90s, the Terminator franchise and Schwarzenegger were at their peak. Even today, the original films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger continue to capture the imagination of millions. 

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