James Cameron's 1991 sequel Terminator 2 became an iconic piece of cinema with Arnie's regular terminator facing off against liquid metal T-1000 played by Robert Patrick.
It could have all been very different if Cameron went with his initial instincts. He wanted singer Billy Idol to play the the part that Patrick made memorable, while Arnie was considered for the role of Sarah Connor's protector Kyle Reese in the first film.
Stunt co-ordinator Joel Kramer, now working on the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series, told MTV: “They were thinking of Lance Henriksen for the Terminator, and they wanted Arnold for the Michael Biehn part of Kyle Reese. And Robert Patrick wasn’t James Cameron’s first pick – Billy Idol was.”
Henricksen was the android Bishop in Cameron’s Aliens and is, therefore, perhaps less surprising than spikey-haired punk-pop singer Billy Idol? “That’s something most people don’t know,” said Kramer.
Kramer recalled seeing James Cameron's storyboards for T2. “I was like, ‘Jim, these storyboards look just like Billy Idol! And he was like, ‘Yeah, he was my first pick.’ But Billy had gotten into a motorcycle accident and broke his leg, so it didn’t work out, because he would have to be in lean running shape.”
Remembering when he told Schwarzenegger that he could have been playing the more wordy role, Kramar said: “[Arnold] said it was a good thing, because there was so much dialogue. He said, ‘I would have f—ed that up totally.’ He had a great sense of humour about it.”
Looks like Cameron dodged a couple of bullets there! Or maybe they just bounced off him.
