Today in History: The Terminator opens in theaters in USA

Is there a more iconic film than this one in the past 40 years? Would Arnold's career have been launched to the extreme levels that it reached without this movie? I suppose you could say that the Conan movies might have propelled him to stardom anyway, but the exquisite failure that the second movie Conan the Destroyer ended up being might have stopped him in his tracks.

This film was terrifying and truly unique and the franchise continues (some would say in vain) to this day as a new Terminator film was released just a few days ago. It all began with The Terminator, a film that almost didn't happen because no one except James Cameron wanted it to happen at first. Thankfully, he is a very stubborn and persistent man and one of the most famous films of my lifetime got the green light because of his tenacity.

The Year was 1984

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Believe it or not, James Cameron was inspired to write this film because of John Carpenter's Halloween but wanted to make a science-fiction version of the film. It is rumored that he actually had a nightmare featuring a metal torso robot type thing wielding knives while he was terribly ill while doing a film in Europe. This "dream" ended up becoming the T-800.

Upon returning to the state that Schwarzenegger would later become governor of, Cameron pitched the idea to his agent. The agent hated the idea and Cameron then fired his agent.

Jimmy would later encounter massive reluctance to make the film in the way that Orion Films agreed to distribute the film but Cameron would have to secure financing elsewhere. While shopping for financiers Cameron got an actor friend, Lance Henriksen, to dress up like The Terminator (before it was even cast) to literally kick in the doors of offices and meetings and James would come in a few minutes later. He eventually was able to secure $4.5 million for the film when British Film producer John Daly was impressed with the live presentation, the concept art (which Cameron made himself), and also the screenplay.

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James wanted an up-and-comer in the industry. Someone that US audiences would know but was not yet fully established. Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally considered for the role of Kyle Reese because he met exactly this criteria, but Cameron was concerned that they wouldn't be able to find someone bigger than him for the role of the Terminator. That's right! Arnold was NOT James' choice for the role of the Terminator.

Cameron had contacted Sly Stallone and Mel Gibson to play the role of the Terminator but they both turned it down. Then Cameron wanted Arnold to play the role of Reese and O.J. Simpson to play the role of the Terminator - However, it was determined that O.J. wasn't believable as a murderer... lol

Among many others, Sting, Matt Dillon (that could have worked,) Christopher Reeve, Micky Rourke, and Bruce Springsteen were considered for the role of Kyle Reese but for various reasons, none of them worked out and the role eventually went to Michael Biehn.

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It was actually during a meeting where Cameron had intended to break the bad news to Arnold that he wasn't going to cast him that Schwarzenegger's enthusiasm for how the "bad guy" should be portrayed that James decided to cast him as the Terminator. Keep in mind that at the time, Arnold was ONLY being considered for the role of Kyle Reese.

Arnold could not speak English very well and that seemed to work out nicely for the role as he only spoke around 100 words in the entire film. The iconic "I'll be back" line almost didn't happen because Arnold really struggled with the word "I'll". Arnold argued that he should say "I will be back" because a robot would't use contractions... James insisted and now it is likely the most famous words that Arnie has ever spoken in a film.

Arnold, during filming, had very little faith in this film. While breaking to finish his contract making Conan the Destroyer an interviewer noticed some shoes on the floor that were from the Terminator set. When asked what the shoes were for, Arnold responded: "oh, just some shit movie."

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The original story of Terminator 1 was actually the story for Terminator 2. Cameron re-wrote the entire first story because it was determined that a "liquid" Terminator couldn't be realistically displayed using the technology that existed in the early 80's. I think that was a wise move since the 2nd film is one of my personal favorites of all time as well, despite Edward Furlong's best efforts to ruin it.

_{from the Paramount official channel}

Like a lot of great movies, this one started out as something that was very unlikely to happen. When you consider that the film eventually turned just over $6 million into $70 million globally, it can easily be said that we owe a lot to James Cameron's persistence.

Years later Terminator 2 would be made and was also the most expensive movie ever at the time. However, due to Cameron's sterling track record at that point, the more than $100 million budget was easily acquired (the film ended up grossing over $500 million.)

So to all of you sci-fi nerds out there: happy Terminator day!