To this day, there are a handful of iconic roles associated with the immortal Arnold Schwarzenegger, the most recognizable (arguably) of those being the T-800. Having successfully catapulted the bodybuilder-turned-actor’s career into the stratosphere with 1984’s The Terminator, director James Cameron came back for another round in 1991 with Terminator 2: Judgement Day, sparking endless debate amongst the geek community in the time since as to which film is superior. Personally, I lean toward the original, but appreciate the merits of both.
As time has gone by, several sequels by way of other directors have debuted in cinemas, none of which garnered the acclaim of the first two installments. In fact, both Salvation and Genesys intended on kickstarting new multi-picture arcs, each of which obviously failed to do so. Furthermore, things didn’t go so well on the small screen, with The Sarah Connor Chronicles being cancelled by Fox after only two seasons. But no matter how many entries in this franchise fail to resonate with moviegoers, someone always aims to make a buck off it, come hell or high water.
But regardless of that, we fully expect diehards to flock to theaters in order to see T2 on the big screen now that it’s coming complete with stereoscopic presentation – and especially when Cameron gives it a good sell. Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time he’s had to do so. Believe it or not, Arnie himself was none too pleased with the screenplay and actually tried to talk Cameron out of doing the movie!
Here’s what the legendary filmmaker had to say when reminiscing about old times with The Guardian:
“Arnold HATED it, he even tried to talk me out of it! But I said: ‘No, this is what we’re doing, it’s really cool.’ And along the way, he saw the wisdom of it.”
From the sound of it, Schwarzenegger probably thought the sequel’s more action-heavy turn was a bit of a departure from the first film’s horror-sci-fi tone. But, as we know, all worked out in the end and the star walked a way with a handsome payday – in addition to some guy’s clothes, boots and motorcycle.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D is now playing in theaters.
