The Last Myth? ‘Westworld’ (1973) And ‘The Terminator’ (1984)
And a 200-year-old warning
In 1984, a science fiction film hit the big screens in the United States and stayed at the top of the box office for two weeks, helping to launch Jim Cameron’s film career and propel Arnold Schwarzenegger to stardom. Before this Jim Cameron was a relatively unknown director and had only shot one movie to date.
Cameron’s fortune changed overnight when he had an opportunity to pitch the film with Lance Henriksen dressed in a leather biker jacket acting out the role of The Terminator in front of anxious executives from the production company, Hemdale.
Cameron had his Terminator and Orion wanted Schwarzenegger to play the time-traveling human hero Kyle Reese. Cameron was not agreeable but met Schwarzenegger and was so impressed by the way he discussed how the villain should be played, he offered him the role of the Terminator. The rest, as they say, is cinema history. Henriksen missed out but was to play — in a strange twist of cinema fate — a friendly android in one of the greatest sequels in cinema history — Aliens (1986).
The Terminator begins as two naked humanoid beings emerge (or are miraculously born) from a torrent of high voltage at night in Los Angeles in 1984. The first arrival (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a huge…
