Editing The Terminator (section)

===Casting===
For the role of Kyle Reese, Orion wanted a star whose popularity was rising in the United States but who also would have foreign appeal. Orion co-founder [[Mike Medavoy]] had met [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] and sent his agent the script for ''The Terminator''.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=39}} Cameron was uncertain about casting Schwarzenegger as Reese as he felt he would need someone even more famous to play the Terminator. [[Sylvester Stallone]] and [[Mel Gibson]] both turned down the Terminator role.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/a-history-of-iconic-roles-that-famous-actors-turned-down/sylvester-stallone-as-the-terminator|title=A History of Iconic Roles That Famous Actors Turned Down - Sylvester Stallone as T-800 (''The Terminator'', 1984)|website=Complex|access-date=August 16, 2017|archive-date=August 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813235852/http://uk.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/a-history-of-iconic-roles-that-famous-actors-turned-down/sylvester-stallone-as-the-terminator|url-status=live}}</ref> Medavoy suggested [[O. J. Simpson]] but Cameron did not feel that Simpson, at that time, would be believable as a killer.<ref name="OV-Hurd">{{cite AV media|title=Other Voices documentary|date=2001|publisher=[[MGM Home Entertainment]]|people=Hurd, Gale Anne (producer)|work=The Terminator [Special Edition]|medium=DVD}}</ref>{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=40}}<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=McGovern|first=Joe|url=https://ew.com/article/2014/07/17/the-terminator-oral-history/|title='The Terminator' at 30: An oral history|date=July 17, 2014|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Yamato |first=Jen |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-10-25/o-j-simpson-terminator-james-cameron-arnold-schwarzenegger |title=James Cameron debunks that O.J. Simpson 'Terminator' painting myth: 'Arnold is wrong' |date=October 25, 2019 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

Cameron agreed to meet with Schwarzenegger and devised a plan to avoid casting him; he would pick a fight with him and return to Hemdale and find him unfit for the role.<ref name="OV-Cameron">{{cite AV media |people= Cameron, James |date= 2001 |title= Other Voices documentary |work=The Terminator [Special Edition]|medium=DVD|publisher=[[MGM Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> Cameron was entertained by Schwarzenegger, who would talk about how the villain should be played, and began sketching his face on a notepad, asking Schwarzenegger to stop talking and remain still.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=40}}<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Goodyear |first1=Dana |title=Man of Extremes |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/26/man-of-extremes-james-cameron-profile-avatar |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=7 September 2024 |date=19 October 2009}}</ref> After the meeting, Cameron returned to Daly saying Schwarzenegger would not play Reese but that "he'd make a hell of a Terminator".{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=41}}{{Quote box |quote=Casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as our Terminator [...] shouldn't have worked. The guy is supposed to be an infiltration unit, and there's no way you wouldn't spot a Terminator in a crowd instantly if they all looked like Arnold. It made no sense whatsoever. But the beauty of movies is that they don't have to be logical. They just have to have plausibility. If there's a visceral, cinematic thing happening that the audience likes, they don't care if it goes against what's likely.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Creator James Cameron on Terminator's Origins, Arnold as Robot, Machine Wars |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |last=Daly |first=Steve |date=March 23, 2009 |access-date=September 18, 2010 |url=https://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/17-04/ff_cameron |archive-date=July 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727042523/http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/17-04/ff_cameron |url-status=live }}</ref> |source=—James Cameron on casting Schwarzenegger. |align=right |salign=right |width=33%}}

Schwarzenegger was not as excited by the film; during an interview on the set of ''[[Conan the Destroyer]]'', an interviewer asked him about a pair of shoes he had, which belonged to the wardrobe for ''The Terminator''. Schwarzenegger responded, "Oh, some shit movie I'm doing, take a couple weeks."{{sfn|Andrews|2003|pp=120–121}} He recounted in his memoir, ''Total Recall'', that he was initially hesitant, but thought that playing a robot in a contemporary film would be a challenging change of pace from ''[[Conan the Barbarian (1982 film)|Conan the Barbarian]]'' and that the film was low-profile enough that it would not damage his career if it were unsuccessful. In a later interview with ''[[GQ]]'', he admitted that he and the studio regarded it as just another [[B Movie|B action movie]], since "The year before came out ''[[The Exterminator|Exterminator]]'', now it was the Terminator and what else is gonna be next, type of thing". It was only when he saw 20 minutes of the first edit did he realize that "this is really intense, this is wild, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before" and realized that "this could be bigger than we all think".<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srksXVEkfAs&t=471s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/srksXVEkfAs| archive-date=2021-12-11|title=Arnold Schwarzenegger Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters GQ|work=[[GQ Magazine]] |date=October 29, 2019 |access-date=February 1, 2021 |url-status=live|via=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> To prepare for the role, Schwarzenegger spent three months training with weapons to be able to use them and feel comfortable around them.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=41}} Schwarzenegger speaks only 17 lines in the film, and fewer than 100 words. Cameron said that "Somehow, even his accent worked&nbsp;... It had a strange synthesized quality, like they hadn't gotten the voice thing quite worked out."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/1991/07/12/arnolds-schwarzeneggers-few-words/ |title=65 Words...And Arnold Was a Star |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |last1=Chase |first1=Donald |last2=Meyers |first2=Kate |date=July 12, 1991 |access-date=September 20, 2010 |archive-date=October 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007124503/http://www.ew.com/article/1991/07/12/arnolds-schwarzeneggers-few-words |url-status=live }}</ref>

Various other actors were suggested for the role of Reese, including rock musician [[Sting (musician)|Sting]].{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=42}} Cameron met with Sting, but he was not interested as Cameron was too much an unknown director at the time.<ref>{{cite web |first=George |last=Bass |date=21 April 2021 |title=The Terminator came to me in a dream: a new interview with James Cameron |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/terminator-james-cameron |access-date=10 January 2023}}</ref> Others who were considered for Reese, included [[Christopher Reeve]], [[Matt Dillon]], [[Kurt Russell]], [[Treat Williams]], [[Tommy Lee Jones]], [[Scott Glenn]], [[Michael O'Keefe]], and [[Bruce Springsteen]].<ref name="etonline.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.etonline.com/movies/140439_Casting_Near_Misses_Sting_The_Terminator|title = Casting Near-Misses: Sting in 'The Terminator'?| date=November 6, 2013 }}</ref> Cameron chose [[Michael Biehn]]. Biehn, who had recently seen ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' and had aspirations about acting alongside the likes of [[Al Pacino]], [[Robert De Niro]], and [[Robert Redford]], was originally skeptical, feeling the film was silly.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/terminator-what-happened-star-michael-biehn-1228634 |title="Everything Had to Go Right": What Happened to 'Terminator' Star Michael Biehn |work=The Hollywood Reporter |last=Couch |first=Aaron |date=August 2, 2019 |access-date=July 22, 2020 |archive-date=July 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722192631/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/terminator-what-happened-star-michael-biehn-1228634 |url-status=live }}</ref> After meeting with Cameron, Biehn changed his mind.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=42}} Hurd stated that "almost everyone else who came in from the audition was so tough that you just never believed that there was gonna be this human connection between Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. They have very little time to fall in love. A lot of people came in and just could not pull it off."{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=43}} To get into Reese's character, Biehn studied the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-terminator-30th-anniversary/9/ |title="The Terminator" 30 years later |work=[[CBS News]] |last=Lombardi |first=Ken |date=October 26, 2014 |access-date=November 21, 2016 |archive-date=November 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122153353/http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-terminator-30th-anniversary/9/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the first pages of the script, Sarah Connor is described as "19, small and delicate features. Pretty in a flawed, accessible way. She doesn't stop the party when she walks in, but you'd like to get to know her. Her vulnerable quality masks a strength even she doesn't know exists."{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=44}} [[Lisa Langlois]] was offered the role but turned it down as she was already shooting ''[[The Slugger's Wife]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.retrojunk.com/article/show/3163/a-talk-with-lisa-langlois |title=A Talk With Lisa Langlois |website=retrojunk.com |access-date=July 30, 2021 }}</ref> [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]], [[Melissa Sue Anderson]], and [[Jessica Harper]] were also considered for the role of Sarah Connor.<ref name="etonline.com"/> Cameron cast [[Linda Hamilton]], who had just finished filming ''[[Children of the Corn (1984 film)|Children of the Corn]]''.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=45}} [[Rosanna Arquette]] and [[Lea Thompson]] also auditioned for the role.<ref>{{cite news |last= Vespe |first= Eric |url= https://www.aintitcool.com/node/50837 |title= Quint chats with Michael Biehn, Part 1! Aliens, Terminator, Abyss and working with James Cameron! |work= [[Ain't It Cool News]] |date= August 17, 2011 |access-date= 2011-08-19 |archive-date= November 27, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181127022427/http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50837 |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omzt6HVjKY8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Omzt6HVjKY8| archive-date=2021-12-11|title='Back to the Future' star Lea Thompson was almost in 'Terminator' {{!}} Page Six Celebrity News |work=Page Six |date=October 5, 2018 |access-date=July 30, 2021 |url-status=live|via=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Cameron found a role for Lance Henriksen as Vukovich, as Henriksen had been essential to finding finances for the film.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=46}} For the special effects shots, Cameron wanted [[Dick Smith (make-up artist)|Dick Smith]], who had worked on ''[[The Godfather]]'' and ''Taxi Driver''. Smith did not take Cameron's offer and suggested his friend [[Stan Winston]].{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=50}}