As a general rule, imitating the eternal T-800 from the ‘Terminator’ saga usually means saying one of these two phrases: “Hasta la vista, baby” or “I’ll be back”. But, be careful, because if it had been for arnold schwarzeneggerhis iconic line from the first film in the franchise would have been not too different, but enough so that it wouldn’t have had the same impact.
Wow if he came back
According to what the director James Cameron and the actor himself have said in the documentary dedicated to his figure released on Netflix under the title ‘Arnold’, they had a heated confrontation during the filming of the 1984 film because of the scene set in the police station. This is how the filmmaker began to explain the anecdote:
“At some point during the shoot, we were shooting this scene at the police station. The line is: ‘I’ll be back.’ [I’ll be back]. It wasn’t meant to be a great moment at all. It was literally supposed to be like saying ‘No problem, I’ll be right back’. For some reason, Arnold didn’t say ‘I’ll be back’. I told him, ‘Well, just say ‘I’ll be back.’ Keep it simple.'”
Schwarzenegger thought that “I’ll be back” sounded too weird and casual, and thought it more appropriate to opt for an alternative that sounded more like what you would say to a machine, so when “action” was yelled, he opted to say “I will be back.” Cameron, known for having quite a bad temper on set, got angry about himself. This is how the interpreter remembered it.
“He said, ‘Are you the writer? I said, ‘No,’ and he said, ‘Well, don’t tell me how the fuck I have to write.’
Good old Arnold agreed with his director, said the phrase that was his turn and everything ended up going well. In fact, both he and Cameron were surprised by the success of the film, not only with regard to the public, but also with regard to criticism.
“Box office success doesn’t necessarily mean critics like it, so Time magazine choosing it as one of the top 10 movies was unheard of. It even stumped Jim Cameron. Suddenly, he was on a roll.”
In Espinof | All the movies in the ‘Terminator’ saga ordered from worst to best