At the beginning of the shooting of Terminator: Judgment Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger disagreed with a fundamental element of the script, as revealed by James Cameron in a recent interview. His main concern was a significant change in his character, the T-800, which would have transformed him from a killing machine into a protector, with an explicit ban on killing human beings. Schwarzenegger, accustomed to playing violent action roles, was surprised and annoyed by this change, so much so that he went so far as to define it as a distortion of the image he had consolidated in previous years.
What has changed in Terminator 2?
According to Cameron, Schwarzenegger expressed his disappointment already when reading the script of Terminator 2, underlining that the ban on killing could have reduced the effectiveness of the character. The director, however, was convinced of the opposite: this choice would have humanized the Terminator, making him emerge as a hero rather than a simple automaton programmed to eliminate threats. Cameron explained how this transformation would have given the film greater depth, giving the T-800 a complex narrative arc, in contrast to the relentless brutality of the T-1000, the main antagonist played by Robert Patrick.
Initially reluctant, Schwarzenegger then gradually adapted to this new direction, understanding the importance of a character who, while remaining a machine, develops a sort of conscience, especially under the guidance of John Connor.
From a narrative point of view, the decision not to have the T-800 kill anyone is crucial. The absence of lethal violence on the part of the protagonist creates a clear contrast with the past, making the parallel between the Terminator Terminator and that of Terminator 2 more effective. Furthermore, this choice offers greater complexity to the character, placing him in a different moral position than the T-1000, who continues to kill without hesitation.
Source: screenrant
Leave a Reply