Key scene in Terminator was cut out because Cameron hated the actors
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Terminator
Nathanred — 2 years ago(September 02, 2023 07:08 AM)
The actors were friends of the movie's financers and they weren't good actors so the scene never made it to film. The scene was meant to give important background information on how Skynet was formed.
https://www.variety.com/2023/film/news/james-cameron-cut-terminator-scene-financiers-forced-friends-cast-1235710177/
“The Terminator” producer Gale Anne Hurd revealed on X/Twitter that James Cameron removed a crucial scene from the 1984 action movie after financiers forced him to use their friends in it. The scene in question provided important context about how Cyberdyne Systems, the tech corporation responsible for the creation of Skynet, came into possession of the technological chip that gets placed inside of Terminators.
“‘The Terminator’ financier John Daly’s Hemdale Films had an output deal with Orion Pictures, but hadn’t yet made a hit (that changed with our film and ‘Platoon’),” Hurd explained on Twitter/X. “They insisted we use financier friends not actors in this scene, which ruined it for us.”
The financier’s friends “were paid as actors, via the Taft Hartley act,” Hurd added. “I think [Daly] insisted they be in the film because the financiers were promised a return on their investment and had yet to receive one. Daly never believed the film would be a success.”
When asked by a fan if Cameron cut the financiers’ friends out of the movie because they were bad actors, Hurd responded, “Jim (thankfully) was never satisfied with ‘just ok,’ even back then!”