Proof of a Movie God: The Terminator

The Movie God works in mysterious ways. Every now and again one of us puny humans will get an idea for a great movie and then proceed to try and screw it up through all sorts of bad decisions, bickering, and other typical people stuff. The Movie God steps in at various points along the way and steers the boat, so to speak. To most of us they seem like strange coincidences or just pure luck. To me, they're proof a Movie God. I realize that many of you reading this may be skeptical. This feature will attempt to convert you non-believers.

Way back in 1984, we found out something we already knew: computers would soon take over the world. This news came via the release of a little movie called The Terminator. The twist that it offered was that computers (or someone?) would also figure out time travel and use it to send a machine back to the then-present to kill the woman who would have the child that would lead the human resistance many years later. With Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular Terminator, it would become one of the most iconic movies of all time, blending elements of action, science fiction, and horror into a masterful piece of cinema on a shoe-string budget. It spawned a sequel that's arguably just as iconic, and three more sequels including the just-releasing-around-the-world Terminator: Genisys and at least two more to come. If it weren't for the Movie God, none of it would have ever happened.

As the Movie God and others of divine ilk often do, its intentions were communicated through the dreams of mortals. That man was little known director James Cameron. The dream was of a metallic torso dragging itself along the ground with one hand while holding kitchen knives with the other. Properly inspired, Cameron banged out a draft of the story. As the Movie God would have it, writer Bill Wisher was a friend of Cameron's and was enlisted to turn it into full-fledged script.

Human resistance began almost immediately. Cameron took "his" idea to his agent, who hated it. After deep contemplation and prayers to Celluloid Heaven in search of counsel, Cameron fired this person. No weapon formed against the Movie God shall prosper.

Cameron still needed a way to get his film made. Luckily, he had close ties with legendary schlock-master Roger Corman. This association put him in contact with a true Movie Godsend, Gail Ann Hurd. The two made a deal that would surely go down as one of the great bargains of all-time. He sold her the rights to The Terminator for a single dollar and the promise that she would only produce the movie if he was to direct it. Hurd was also given a writing credit.

Hurd, T-800, Cameron

Hurd had some friends at Orion who agreed to distribute the movie. However, not being believers in the Movie God's vision, they required Cameron to secure the money to actually make the film somewhere else. This led him to the offices of John Daly at Hemdale Pictures. The Movie God knew a more blatant form of divine intervention was needed. Voila! Cameron magically came up with the idea to have his good buddy, actor Lance Henrikson, to dress up as the title character with his face made up to look as if it had cuts all over it. Henrikson got to Daly's office first, literally kicked open the door and stared everyone down, making them uncomfortable. When Cameron showed up a short time later, he had an easy sell.

The Movie God's work was not done. As convincing as he had been Henrikson was not the one to play the machine that would also come be known as the T-800. For his efforts, Henrikson was rewarded with another role in the film, that of Det. Hal Vukovich. Someone was also needed to play Kyle Reese, the actual hero of the film. The chief of Orion at the time was Mike Medavoy. As heads of things tend to, Medavoy had some grand ideas about who should be in the movie. He had seen a little documentary called about bodybuilding called Pumping Iron. He decided that the guy who was the main focus of that doc was perfect for this movie. It was none other than future governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Medavoy wanted him to play Kyle Reese. For the part of The Terminator, Medavoy wanted a guy who had one of the most recognizable names and faces in the country thanks to his Hall of Fame football career, iconic commercials, stellar broadcasting career, and even a few movies. He wanted O.J. Simpson.

James Cameron wanted no parts of any of this. He didn't want Schwarzenegger for several reasons. His main reservation was that Arnold was such a physical specimen they would have to find someone even bigger to play the T-800. As for O.J., well, Cameron and everyone else in the world thought O.J. was just too nice to play a cold-hearted killer.

Let's pause right there for a second, youngsters. If you were born during the 90s or later, chances are you only know Simpson as the guy who was acquitted of, but probably killed his wife and a gentleman who worked at a nearby restaurant in 1994, both of whom were white. Simpson has been sitting in jail since 2007 when he broke into a Las Vegas hotel room with a gun drawn and took some sports memorabilia he believed had been stolen from him earlier. Until that fateful night in '94, he really was one of the most beloved people in America. He was a non-threatening black man, who was handsome, amiable, with a megawatt smile, and undeniably great in the athletic arena. How could he not be lovable?

Back to Cameron. There was a reason I brought up race. Another of Cameron's reservations was that he didn't want to deal with the potential controversy of making a movie where the only black performer was a black man hellbent on chasing down and murdering a white woman...and the guy who would become her lover. Are we understanding the irony, here?

Irony to you and I was given knowledge to The Movie God. Even Cameron could not resist the wisdom of cinema's supreme deity. Cameron planned on sabotaging his first meeting with Schwarzenegger. He was going to pick a fight with Arnie then tell his bosses that the bodybuilder was unfit for the role. Why he ever thought that was a good idea, only he and The Movie God know. One thing The Movie God knew for certain was that Arnie had a winning personality and lots of ideas about a subject near and dear to Cameron's heart, how to play the bad guy. Cameron saw the light. O.J was out of a job. And The Movie God blessed us with another classic.

Need more proof of The Movie God's existence?

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