The Terminator franchise almost looked very different (Picture: Getty)
As the 40th anniversary of classic sci-fi thriller The Terminator approaches, crucial behind-the-scenes casting details have been revealed.
James Cameron’s film from 1984 was a major box office success, launching the Terminator franchise and giving Arnold Schwarzenegger a breakthrough role.
In the film, Arnie played a robot assassin from the future sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, a woman whose unborn son will one day save humanity from AI.
Arnie later starred in sequels Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, before featuring in 2015’s Genisys and 2019’s Dark Fate.
But the movies very nearly looked completely different, with it being revealed that superstar American football player OJ Simpson almost claimed Arnie’s role.
The movie’s director, James Cameron, approached Simpson to appear as the killer cyborg while Arnie was considered for the role of rebel soldier Kyle Reese.
And in a recent interview, the former California governor and body builder gave details about how Simpson, who began acting in the 1970s, ultimately lost out.
He explained: ‘[The film’s producers] weren’t really hooked to [the idea of] OJ playing the Terminator. He could not be sold as a killing machine.’
After giving the juicy details of how he ended up playing the Terminator instead of Simpson, Arnie laughed and sarcastically said: ‘Yeah.’
Arnie has now played The Terminator in five of the franchise’s movies (Picture: Getty)
Simpson was a star player for the Buffalo Bills (Picture: Getty)
The sarcastic laugh, featured in the new Netflix docuseries looking back at Arnie’s life, is likely a reference to the infamous murder trial Simpson faced in 1994.
After Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her house in LA, OJ was charged with their murders.
Following one of the most widely publicised and infamous legal cases in United States history, Simpson was found not guilty of both murders.
Simpson was found not guilty after a lengthy murder trial (Picture: Getty)
However, in 1997, Ron Goldman’s family filed a civil lawsuit against Simpson, where he was found guilty of wrongful death and battery against the victims.
He was then ordered to pay over $33 million (£26 million) in damages to the Goldman family, and was jailed for nine years in 2008 for armed robbery.
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Another revelation that has emerged from the Netflix docuseries is Arnie’s confession that his father often gave him ‘brutal’ beatings as a child.
‘It was just the way it was. Many of the children I’ve seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality.’
Watch Arnold on Netflix.
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The franchise could have looked very different.