Arnold Schwarzenegger's story of James Cameron casting him over OJ Simpson in 'The Terminator' DEBUNKED
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Arnold Schwarzenegger, 75, is a renowned athlete, actor, politician. But he has another talent, which he is now employing even more while promoting Netflix's docuseries ‘Arnold’ — that of an accomplished storyteller. His storytelling was first unleashed in a memoir ‘Total Recall’ in 2012 and now, even more secrets of his life are being revealed in his docuseries releasing on June 7. A prolific narrator, Schwarzenegger had once revealed on a Reddit AMA session that it was during a lunch session with James Cameron that he unknowingly convinced the ‘The Terminator’ director to cast him in the titular role.
A Reddit user had asked him to elaborate on the story of him convincing Cameron to cast him as the assassin from 2029. Scwarzenegger, replied under the user name @GovSchwarznegger, saying, “Actually, the story is a little different. I wanted the role of Kyle Reese when we went to lunch. I did not want to be the Terminator. I didn't think I had established myself yet enough as a hero to be a villain. When I started in Hollywood, all they offered was villains. So I wanted to really establish myself first.”
While he wanted the role of the protagonist of the first film, Cameron had something else in mind. However, the former Mr. Olympia said during the interview that he shared some of his ideas on how to train for the role of the Terminator. He continued, “But I told Jim some of my ideas about how the Terminator should train (not looking while loading weapons, not blinking, no emotions. I said the guy had to train blindfolded.) The Terminator, by the way, at that time, was OJ Simpson.” Looks like the ‘Titanic’ director was bowled over by Schwarzenegger's insight into the role. The 'FUBAR' star recalled, “Jim told me I had to do it. He was right.”
‘He was not as believable as a killing machine’
Time and again, the former governor of California has propagated the theory that OJ Simpson was the first choice for the role. In an interview to Independent in 2019, he reiterated, “It was actually OJ Simpson that was the first cast Terminator,” before adding why Cameron opted not to cast him, “Then somehow [James Cameron] felt that he was not as believable as a killing machine. So then they hired me. That’s really what happened.” The former American footballer-turned-actor, OJ Simpson was charged with the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994, but was later acquitted in 1995.
Schwarzenegger is so fixated on the theory of Simpson being the original Terminator, that he joked once during his interview to the Independent that, “On the painting that I have at home – it was painted by Jim Cameron,” before narrating, “Underneath my face is actually OJ Simpson’s face. It was already painted on it, with the leather jacket and the gun in the hand.” He further added, “I have the painting in my office. So if anyone would ever scrape off the part of my face, underneath will be OJ.”
‘Arnold is literally just wrong’
However, as much as Arnold likes to say that OJ Simpson was the "original" Terminator, the director of the film, James Cameron has a completely different story. He has debunked the theory several times saying that Schwarzenegger is “literally just wrong.” In an interview to The Times, as reported by Los Angeles Times, the ‘Avatar’ director said, “Arnold is literally just wrong. I know it’s hard to imagine! You don’t argue with Arnold.”
Once in an episode of ‘Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace’ on HBO Max, Cameron elaborated on the same. He said, “Very early on, a highly placed person at one of the two studios that funded that film had a brilliant idea and called me up and said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ I said, ‘Well, no, I’m not.’ He said, ‘Are you sitting? O.J. Simpson for the Terminator!’ I said, ‘I actually think that’s a bad idea.’ It didn’t go anywhere.”
He had a say about the painting too, which he said wasn’t Simpson at all. “I didn’t make the painting for him. I made the painting for us, for the production, of him as the Terminator,” said the showrunner before adding, “There’s no O.J. under that painting… O.J. Simpson was never in the mix at all. That was rejected out of hand before it ever got any traction.”