James Cameron is one of the biggest directors working in Hollywood right now. His return to the cinemas, Avatar: The Way of Water earned over $2 Billion at the global box office, making it the third highest-grossing film of all time, with the first being the predecessor Avatar.
The director has an unmatched vision, with a franchise he created in 1984 still running strong. In fact, he is so revered that Sam Worthington, who starred in Avatar, went to Cameron for his blessing to star in Terminator Salvation. The Clash of the Titans star received a 5-word warning from Cameron along with the blessing.
James Cameron’s Terminator Franchise
The Terminator was only James Cameron’s second film, his first being Piranha II: The Spawning. The story behind its making is equally exciting. According to Cameron, he once had a fever dream about a metallic torso dragging itself out of an explosion. Cameron immediately started writing a treatment for the film, which was initially a Halloween-style slasher film.
Cameron then wrote the first draft of the script and pitched it to producer and future wife Gale Ann Hurd of New World Pictures. He sold her the script for one dollar so that he would get to direct the film. After Orion Pictures and Helmdale Film Corporation came on board, the film was greenlit with a budget of $6.5 million.
Cameron was initially unconvinced by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who he had auditioned for the character of Kyle Reese. However, after he met the actor, Cameron saw him as the Terminator. Apparently, Schwarzenegger tried to convince Cameron during filming to change his iconic “I’ll be back” line as his Austrian accent made it hard for him to pronounce ‘I’ll’.
The Terminator was released to a $4 million opening weekend and was number one at the box office. In its entire run, it earned $78 million, which was a hit considering its modest $6 million budget. The film ignited a franchise that saw Cameron returning for T2: Judgement Day while staying away from the rest of the films until 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate.
Sam Worthington Asked For James Cameron’s Blessing For Terminator Salvation
After Cameron’s departure from the franchise with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, a new Terminator film was developed with Charlie’s Angels director McG taking the reigns. Titled Terminator Salvation, the film starred Christian Bale and Sam Worthington.
Worthington was approached by McG after he started working with Cameron on Avatar, whose extensive production began in 2006. In an interview with Coming Soon, the Australian actor revealed that he had approached Cameron for his blessing before he said yes to the role. Talking about the conversation, Worthington said,
“I told him that they wanted me to do it, and I said, ‘Here’s my take on the character, and here’s what I want to do with it,’ and he told me, ‘Just don’t f*ck it up!’ That was about it. And then, he went back to filming Avatar. As Jim said, he wants to look at it, as a fan.”
While Cameron has revealed that he did not give his blessing to director McG for Terminator Salvation, he seems to have given the actor advice. Excited about the nod from Cameron, Worthington said,
“Not only is it a stamp of approval but I better not f*ck up. Otherwise, he’ll kill me.”
Sam Worthington has since revealed that he felt the film let fans down and addressed some of the mistakes in the film, saying that he wished he had thought of those details while filming. Terminator Salvation was notorious for having script troubles, with the script undergoing many rewrites by Person of Interest creator Jonathan Nolan even during filming.
Talking about his mistakes as an actor in the film, Sam Worthington said,
“In the first one, I let the audience down by not delivering a character. I was a f*cking generic bland action dude. That was it. I was like a Barbie doll and I didn’t like myself for doing that. I dropped the ball, man. I’ll admit it.”
After the lukewarm response to both Terminator Salvation and the next film Terminator Genisys, the $2 billion franchise is still in murky waters. James Cameron returned to the franchise with Terminator Dark Fate which also had an underwhelming response.
Source: Coming Soon
