OJ Simpson, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Gibson, Selleck, Sting, and several Sarah Connor candidates form the casting what-if tree.
In the discussion (4)
- Orion executive Mike Medavoy proposed OJ Simpson as the Terminator and Arnold as Kyle Reese; Cameron rejected Simpson as too likable at the time and the pursuit image as racially wrong.
- Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson reportedly declined the Terminator, while Tom Selleck was considered because the machine was originally imagined as an ordinary man able to blend in.
- Sting is the one Kyle Reese alternative treated as credible and exciting, though Michael Biehn is defended.
- Lea Thompson, Geena Davis, Rosanna Arquette, Madonna, and Jennifer Jason Leigh are discussed for Sarah; Rosanna Arquette is the panel’s favorite alternate, while Hamilton remains perfect.
Early-career Demi Moore is proposed for Ginger to turn the ten-minute friend role into a striking retrospective cameo.
In the discussion (1)
- The panel prefers Moore from her General Hospital/Blame It on Rio period to the credited performer, whose name is rendered uncertainly by the transcript.
Research covers an abandoned liquid-metal Terminator, the theatrical pitch, minimal Arnold dialogue, performance preparation, studio notes, Cameron’s rights loss, and the death count.
In the discussion (8)
- An early outline had a second, liquid-metal Terminator that available effects could not realize; Cameron saved the concept for Terminator 2.
- Lance Henriksen reportedly arrived at the pitch in Terminator costume and makeup to demonstrate the threat.
- Schwarzenegger speaks only 17 lines and fewer than 100 words.
- Biehn studied Polish resistance fighters, while Hamilton filmed running scenes on a badly injured ankle.
- The studio suggested a K-9 android for Reese, which Cameron rejected, and asked for more Sarah/Reese romance, which produced the hotel scene.
- Arnold trained with guns daily for a month and received praise for realistic weapon handling.
- Cameron sold away rights early, missed royalties from several sequels, and later described the loss as the price of a Hollywood education before copyright reverted.
- Cameron voices the answering-machine date cancellation, and the estimated body count varies from 39 to 42 depending on Tech Noir.
Sarah’s age and independence, the living-tissue rule, Reese traveling alone and asking too few questions, missing identity intelligence, and later Terminators abandoning disguise generate the nits.
In the discussion (5)
- Sarah is only 18 despite living independently, working, and carrying responsibilities that read as mid-twenties adulthood.
- The writers admit the living-tissue time-travel rule lacks scientific basis, and it fails to explain why the resistance sends only Reese instead of a larger team.
- Sarah scarcely interrogates her visitor from decades ahead, while Reese’s lack of technical knowledge makes him an odd sole envoy.
- The machines can invent time travel but lack Sarah’s image, and Reese somehow does not recognize the mass-produced Terminator model.
- This machine repeatedly conceals exposed machinery, a stealth behavior later sequels largely abandon.
Questions cover genre identity, Kyle’s knowledge and survival, causal loops, Tech Noir geography, and the unrealized phone-book-killer premise.
In the discussion (6)
- If forced to choose one genre, the votes split between horror and science fiction.
- The panel asks whether Reese knew he was John Connor’s father and agrees John probably withheld that information.
- Kyle surviving is rejected because his sacrifice completes the story and audiences primarily wanted Arnold to return.
- The time loop raises whether Sarah’s survival was ever truly in doubt and remains unexplained to the panel’s satisfaction.
- The exact Pico location of Tech Noir conflicts with the chase’s Overland reference and downtown imagery.
- They ask why the phone-book-killer method never became its own thriller and why Reese did not arrive early enough to have Sarah unlist her number.
Casting What-Ifs