James Cameron recently reflected on the making of his 1984 science-fiction action blockbuster film The Terminator, which grossed $78 million upon its release. While the film has remained extremely popular among his fans, Cameron shared that he now finds certain parts of the epic film ‘pretty embarrassing’. However, he also admitted that some aspects of the project turned out well despite the limited resources he had at the time. Read on to find out more!
Also read: ‘A lot of thematic things’: James Cameron explains the idea behind the title Avatar: Fire and Ashes
In a recent interview with Empire Online, legendary director James Cameron opened up about his sci-fi film The Terminator, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role. The film will celebrate its 40th anniversary in October, as Cameron told the publication that he was just starting out as a young filmmaker when he directed the film, recalling that he was around 29 years old and that it was his “first directing job, and for that reason it’s very dear to him.”
Although the film has achieved iconic status in Hollywood, the director said he does not view it as a “holy grail”, adding, “I look at it now, and there are parts of it that are quite embarrassing, and there are parts that are like, ‘Yeah, we did a pretty good job for the resources we had available.'”
Also read: Happy Birthday James Cameron: A look at his 10 best films as a director at 70
Cameron said the only thing he found lacking was “production value”, and that he had no problem with any of the dialogue, and that he had fewer issues with dialogue written by him than with others. The director added, “You know what? Let me watch three of your four highest-grossing films – then we’ll talk about dialogue effectiveness.”
Cameron stressed that Schwarzenegger’s casting as the Terminator was essential to the film’s lasting success. He said that many “first-time filmmakers” become overly attached to their initial vision due to “insecurity”.
The Aliens director expressed pride in them being flexible enough to recognize the possibility of working with him, and stressed that it wasn’t just about their original concept.
He further stated that given the time span of over 40 years, they could have made a solid film from a production-value perspective, but added that it “would have been nothing if we hadn’t made the decision that captured people’s imagination.”
Meanwhile, The Terminator is available to stream on Prime Video. The film also stars Michael Biehn, Earl Boen, Linda Hamilton, Lance Henriksen, and Paul Winfield, among others.