Did someone say Billy Idol?
Terminator 2 could have turned out very differently, according to director James Cameron.
The series is set to return later this year with the release of the sixth instalment Terminator: Dark Fate, and the director has revealed how one of the most iconic films in the series could have taken an extremely different shape.
One of the most legendary parts of the film was the liquid-metal T-1000. Following Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous T-800 villain, it contributed to a large part of what makes the film.
Cameron revealed that the T-1000 was part of the original plan for the first Terminator in 1984, but the technology at the time wasn’t advanced enough to bring it to life.
“The whole first film was really the first act and a half of my original conception of the story. And the second film, although greatly elaborated, was the second half of the original story,” he explained.
“Quite frankly starting with a shoestring budget and state-of-the-art effects of the time, I couldn’t figure out how to do it.”
The original idea for the sequel was to have two versions of Schwarzenegger playing two T-800s with one ending up stripped down to its metal endoskeleton.
However, Terminator 2 screenwriter William Wisher has revealed the idea was rubbished, he told Fandom, because the concept was “really boring”.
There was also very nearly a massive cast change for the film, as Robert Patrick tells The Hollywood Reporter.
“Billy Idol was set to do the role of the T-1000, as I understand. I can tell you that I saw Billy’s image when I went to Stan Winston after I got the role. Unfortunately, he got into a motorcycle accident and busted up his leg, so he wasn’t able to physically do what the role demanded.”
