Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the veteran action stars of Hollywood. His first major film was Hercules In New York (1970). However, he achieved mainstream stardom with James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984). His fanbase and success grew continuously after Cameron’s film grossed $78.3 million on a budget of $6.4 million and went on to become a full-fledged franchise.
However, Schwarzenegger’s legacy was at risk of getting tainted. Even with all of his success, his first-ever film, Hercules In New York, was going to get lost forever if no one stepped in to buy the rights. Thankfully, an ardent admirer of the muscle man contributed a humongous amount to save the film.
Mystery Man Bought The Rights To Arnold Schwarzenegger’s First Film
In October 2006, San Francisco Chronicle reported that Premiere Pictures was auctioning off the rights to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first film, Hercules In New York, on eBay. The paper wrote:
“Ron Merk’s Premiere Pictures International wants $550,000 minimum for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first movie, ‘Hercules in New York.’ Premiere owns all rights, for which the company is hoping to get as much as $1 million, a quarter of that for scholarships and film-related nonprofits. According to Premiere’s own description, the movie ‘was not met with an overwhelming response from the public.'”
Premiere Pictures didn’t get $1 million, but they did get the base price of $550,000. Sources mentioned that the film is streaming online now only because the mystery person bought the rights. However, even online, the film didn’t find much love. Yet, it’s still an iconic part of Schwarzenegger’s filmography.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Almost Didn’t Star In The Terminator
In an interview with Men’s Health magazine, Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed that he was initially interested in playing Kyle Reese, the resistance fighter because he wanted to be the hero. The action star wasn’t keen on portraying a robot with no emotion. But when he read the script, he became fixated on the titular Terminator.
In fact, James Cameron said that he analyzed the character better than him. Schwarzenegger recalled to the magazine that he said to Cameron:
“He’s a machine. So everything has to be matter-of-fact. I told Jim that. I said there should be no joy, no gratification, no kind of victory lap of any sort. Just the mission, complete. I go through these points. Jim, afterward, says to me, ‘F**k, you analyze it better than the way I have written it. Why don’t you play the Terminator?'”
But Schwarzenegger still wasn’t onboard because the character didn’t have many lines. As per the star, his character spoke a mere 27 lines. But the acclaimed director went after him and convinced the actor to play the role. Now, The Terminator is an iconic franchise that is associated with the action hero.
There have also been talks of Cameron and Schwarzenegger teaming up again for another Terminator film, but nothing has materialized till now. The actor’s next project is Netflix’s FUBAR, while Cameron is busy with his Avatar franchise.
Hercules In New York is on Amazon Prime Video, and The Terminator is available for streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Men’s Health and SF Chronicles
