As the fifth Terminator movie rolls out globally, it can be hard to remember that this billionaire franchise had very humble beginnings, taking the industry – and the fans – by surprise back in 1984? The Terminator’s extraordinary journey began as a nightmare in 1981 – a literal nightmare that woke up a feverish James Cameron in the middle of the night, with the image of a metallic torso dragging itself from an explosion stuck on his brain. Cameron, was a fledgling Canadian-born filmmaker that had risen through the ranks of Roger Corman’s b-movie factory, from model maker to director of Piranha II: The Spawning. He developed the idea into a full-fledged treatment, and, a short time later, a script. Gale Anne Hurd, an ex-assistant to Roger Corman, who was building her own career as a producer, bought Cameron’s script for one dollar, with the promise that he would write the final version and direct the movie. After a tortuous journey that involved almost all the key independent players in 1980s Hollywood, the project got a modest $4 million funding and a ton of candidates for the main role of the single-minded, super-powered android sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, the mother of the future savior of humankind. Among them were O.J. Simpson and Cameron’s friend, actor Lance Enriksen. Arnold Schwarzenegger, then starting an acting career with basically one big title in his resume – Conan the Barbarian – auditioned for the role of Kyle Reese, the brave warrior sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor. Cameron drew sketches of Schwarzenegger’s face and body during the audition and concluded: he was no Reese, he was the perfect Terminator. After some false starts and delays The Terminator began shooting in Los Angeles in March of 1984. In October, with minimal promotional push – there were no junkets and only one press screening – The Terminator opened in 1,005 theaters in the United States and Canada – and went straight to number 1, with $4 million in ticket sales over the opening weekend. “We were the working force, we made it happen”, Schwarzenegger would tell us eight years later, when the second picture in the franchise was about to the take world by storm. “We made it possible in the way of putting it on the screen, through Jim’s writing and directing and our acting and so on.” The process was very much the same with Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The first film had posted final box office earnings of over $78 million worldwide, an outstanding number at the time. Cameron had gone on to direct two hugely successful films, Aliens and The AbyssTerminator had a rabid fan following and critical status as one of the ‘80s best movies and Schwarzenegger was by then a bona fide star. In spite of all that, Cameron was still frustrated with the difficulties in getting a Terminator sequence green lighted: “Every studio in Hollywood had all these years to make a move”, the director told the HFPA in 1991. “They have the money. They have the wherewithal. And none of them made a move.” In the end it was indie mogul Mario Kassar who ponied up the cash for what would be the second and highest-grossing picture of the franchise, taking $720 million worldwide. Introducing a new Terminator – the sleek and even deadlier T-1000 (Robert Patrick) – intent on killing the teen version of future hero John Connor (Edward Furlong). Schwarzenegger’s dated and rusty Terminator becomes a hero and redeems himself. “Arnold’s first reaction was that he had liked the idea of playing both (Terminators), the good and the bad, because it would have been fun as an actor”, James Cameron told us. “Then I pointed out to him that he would have had to spend twice as long in the makeup chair. That was the end of that conversation.” Cameron and Schwarzenegger became less involved in the franchise’s next two pictures. Cameron took a credit of “based on characters” in both Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, in 2003 and Terminator Salvation, in 2009. Schwarzenegger came back as the refurbished and nuclear-powered Terminator model 850 for Rise of the Machines – “I think everyone feels somewhat frustrated with their own lives and so they feel like … well, wouldn’t it be nice to be just for a few minutes a robot like that, where I can take care of the job? People live that fantasy”, Schwarzenegger told us. For Salvation his likeness was digitally superimposed over body builder and actor Roland Kickinger, and the action focused on the grown up John Connor, played by Christian Bale. Terminator: Genisys on the other hand is a proper reboot, a new iteration of the original story established three decades ago. And, like he always promised, Schwarzenegger is back, in full. “It’s a different story”, he told us. “It’s a great experience and a terrific story and it was not difficult to slip back into the character. It’s so inbred, it’s so in me.”

Ana Maria Bahiana