Cliff Notes – Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to rewrite the most famous line in movie history
- Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed he initially disliked the iconic line “I’ll be back,” suggesting it sounded odd for a German character.
- Director James Cameron insisted on keeping the original dialogue, leading to the line’s enduring legacy in the franchise and beyond.
Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to rewrite the most famous line in movie history
Arnold Schwarzenegger has dropped a huge bombshell about his stint in the Terminator, confessing that he didn’t like his most famous catchphrase.
The 77-year-old starred as the creepy cyborg assassin in the hit 1984 flick, helmed by James Cameron, and later reprised his role in a string of the sequels.
The character is most known for threatening, ‘I’ll be back’, which was voted among the best movie quotes in history by the American Film Institute (AFI).
However, sitting down with son Patrick Schwarzenegger to reflect on their separate screen careers, he admitted that he tried to rewrite it before the director shut him down.
In a new Variety interview, he told the White Lotus star: ‘The old directors were fanatics about “Study your dialogue and hit the mark.”
‘Jim Cameron is like that. I would say, “I don’t like the line ‘I’ll be back.’” He says, “What do you mean you don’t like the line?” I said, “It’s just weird for a German to say, “I’ll be back.” Why not just say, “I will be back”?”
Arnie unpacked his career with son Patrick Schwarzenegger
The pair have gone down very different paths in Hollywood.
‘He says, “Oh, you’re trying to tell me how to be a better writer, because I’m not telling you to be a better actor.
‘Just say, “I’ll be back.” If you want me to do 10 takes because you feel insecure about it, we can do that. But don’t change my writing.”’
Thankfully, the line remained the same and has popped up countless times in Arnie’s career ever since, including in the other Terminator movies.
He also uttered the now-infamous words in 1988 comedy Twins, 1993’s the Last Action Hero as well as the Expendables 2 in 2012.
In the action blockbuster, the Hollywood favourite played a robot assassin from the future sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a woman whose unborn son will one day save humanity from AI.
He went on to reprise his role in sequels Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, before featuring in 2015’s Genisys and 2019’s Dark Fate.
Although the franchise has been hugely successful, the films could have looked very different as OJ Simpson was linked to the main role at one point.
Could you imagine the Terminator films without those three words?
Arnie reprised his role a handful of times over the years
Arnie previously claimed that the NFL star – who was accused of killing his partner, Nicole Brown Simpson, in 1994 – to appear as the killer cyborg while he was considered for the role of rebel soldier Kyle Reese.
Lifting the lid on that version of the film, James confirmed: ‘Very early on, a highly placed person at one of the two studios that funded that film had a brilliant idea and called me up and said, “Are you sitting down? … OJ Simpson for the Terminator!”
‘I said, “I actually think that’s a bad idea.” It didn’t go anywhere.’
And the rest is history…