Arnold Schwarzenegger's Unsual Preparations for The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his new book shared his memories of how he prepared for the role in The Terminator from 1984. James Cameron initially was not very enthusiastic about casting the actor known for Conan the Barbarian (1982), which meant that Schwarzenegger had to make an effort to impress the director. In the end, he was chosen for the role.

Related:New Terminator Movie Will be Made; Cameron Wants to Use Modern Themes

In Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life the action movie star mentions training, which was supposed to prepare him for the role of T-800. Schwarzenegger writes that during the training, he covered his eyes and didn't uncover them until he was able to perform all the stunts involving weapons without looking. In addition, the artist spent many hours at the shooting range. He stopped coming only when he learned to stop blinking while shooting - and that's a good thing, because after all, killing humans shouldn't make a cyborg twitch.

When the actor took on the role of T-800 for the first time, he was already a champion bodybuilder, and his physique was impressive. Schwarzenegger's appearance at the time suited the character of a ruthless killing machine, which the movie did not even try to humanize. Training also did its job, because although Terminator 2: Judgment Day from 1991 remains this most appreciated part of the series, the role of T-800 from 1984 is one of the best in Arnold Schwarzenegger's career.

Since the sequel T-800 character has undergone an evolution. In Terminator: Dark Destiny we see that the character even has his own family. While this may have been indicative of the development of algorithms that, by staying too long among humans, began to go beyond the framework of the original software, we will all remember Schwarzenegger as a ruthless machine merely imitating a living person. Although the actor is now done with the role, James Cameron has announced a continuation of the popular series. What will come of it? Time will tell.

More:Terminator Could Have Been Even Better Without This Key Scene Being Cut for Bizarre Reasons

Mateusz Libera

Mateusz Libera

He began his writing adventure by creating stories, later he followed the humanities path, choosing studies in journalism and social communication. He published his first texts on his personal blog and for contests. At the beginning of 2023, he joined the film department of GRYOnline.pl, where he started working as an author of articles about movies. He is interested in fantasy, history, RPG games, and strategies. He is also a long-time player of League of Legends - he has been playing since the second season. Additionally, he writes adventure and fantasy books, but in this field he is still a novice. Currently, he has published one collection of stories.