Arnold Schwarzenegger has continued to be a living work of art, courtesy of his successful bodybuilding, acting, and political career. Even though the actor gained international fame as a Hollywood action star with the documentary, Pumping Iron (1977), he still credits the $2.5 billion Terminator franchise for his mega-star status.
But again, Schwarzenegger has a fair share of bitter experiences with the franchise, one for how Terminator: Salvation, could have been saved in his presence, and another for the failure of Emilia Clarke’s Terminator Genisys and Tim Miller’s Terminator Dark Fate, owning to a poor script despite a talented star cast.
Falling Out of Love With The Last Three Terminator Movies
During a recent interview, Arnold Schwarzenegger opened up about the future of the Terminator franchise in his absence. Specifically targeting Emilia Clarke’s 2015 Terminator Genisys, the actor gave a logical reason for the failure of the last three Terminators, referring to a poorly-written script. He said:
The franchise is not done. I’m done. I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator. Someone has to come up with a great idea.
The Terminator was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly. The first three movies were great. Number four [Salvation] I was not in because I was governor. Then five [Genisys] and six [Dark Fate] didn’t close the deal as far as I’m concerned. We knew that ahead of time because they were just not well written.
The actor was pointing out Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier’s poorly-written script for the failure of Terminator Genisys. Just like James Cameron-written, Terminator: Dark Fate, the 2015 film also failed to reignite the franchise.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Agreed To Disagree!
While Terminator 2: Judgment Day became the highest-grossing film of 1991, the last three installments in the franchise were criticized for unnecessarily dragging the storyline. With the original T-90’s absence, Terminator: Salvation was left without a soul, while Emilia Clarke’s Terminator: Genisys grossed only 89 million dollars at the US box office.
Then came the failure of Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). Schwarzenegger mentioned in the interview how he told Cameron (co-writer of the story), that he was uncomfortable to say a line. To this, Cameron responded: “Are you the scriptwriter now? It’s just one word. Don’t tell me how to write. I don’t tell you how to act.”
The Predator actor joked back, “You tell me how to act every fucking minute! What are you talking about?!” On this, Cameron said, “Arnold, you think it sounds weird. It doesn’t”. Had he taken some advice, it wouldn’t have turned out to be as faulty as Genisys.
Despite the return of very-authentic Sara Connor (Linda Hamilton), and the Austrian Oak as the iconic T-800, the movie was a massive failure. While Schwarzenegger called it “not well written”, James Gunn called it a “granddads’ movie”, pointing to the former Governor’s return.
One can watch Terminator Genisys on Amazon Prime, and then promptly forget.
Also Read: James Cameron Becomes the First Director Ever to Have 3 Films Gross Over $1.5 Billion Worldwide
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
