The Terminator (Ready for casting in bronze)

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The Terminator The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose son will one day become a savior against machines in a post-apocalyptic future. Michael Biehn plays Kyle Reese, a soldier sent back in time to protect Sarah. The screenplay is credited to Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd, while co-writer William Wisher Jr. received a credit for additional dialogue. Executive producers John Daly and Derek Gibson of Hemdale Film Corporation were instrumental in financing and production.[4][7][8] The Terminator topped the United States box office for two weeks. It helped launch Cameron's film career and solidify Schwarzenegger's status as a leading man. The film's success led to a franchise consisting of several sequels, a television series, comic books, novels and video games. In 2008, The Terminator was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Development 3.2 Casting 3.3 Filming 3.4 Music 4 Release 4.1 Critical response 5 Post-release 5.1 Aftermath 5.2 Thematic analysis 5.3 Home media 6 Legacy 6.1 Merchandise 7 Sequels and franchise 8 See also 9 References 9.1 Citations 9.2 Bibliography 10 External links Plot In 1984 Los Angeles, a cyborg assassin known as a Terminator arrives from 2029 and steals guns and clothes. Kyle Reese, a human soldier sent back in time from the same year, arrives shortly afterwards. The Terminator begins systematically killing women named Sarah Connor, whose addresses it finds in the telephone directory. It tracks the last Sarah Connor to a nightclub, but Kyle rescues her. They steal a car and escape with the Terminator pursuing in a police car. As they hide in a parking lot, Kyle explains to Sarah that an artificial intelligence defense network, Skynet, created by Cyberdyne Systems, will become self-aware in the near future and initiate a nuclear holocaust. Sarah's future son John will rally the survivors and lead a resistance movement against Skynet and its army of machines. With the Resistance on the verge of victory, Skynet sent a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah before John is born to prevent the formation of the Resistance. The Terminator, a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101, is an unstoppable killing machine with a powerful metal endoskeleton and an external layer of living tissue that makes it appear human. When Sarah asks if Kyle can destroy the cyborg, he replies that he is uncertain. Kyle and Sarah are apprehended by police after another encounter with the Terminator. The latter attacks the police station, indiscriminately slaughtering police officers in its attempt to locate Sarah. Kyle and Sarah escape, steal another car and take refuge in a motel, where they assemble pipe bombs and plan their next move. Kyle admits that he has been in love with Sarah since John gave him a photograph of her, and that he traveled through time to save her; reciprocating his feelings, they fall in love. The Terminator kills Sarah's mother and impersonates her when Sarah, unaware of the Terminator's ability to mimic voices, attempts to contact her via telephone. When they realize the Terminator has located them, they escape in a pickup truck while it chases them on a motorcycle. In the ensuing chase, Kyle is wounded by gunfire while throwing pipe bombs at the Terminator. Enraged‚ Sarah knocks the Terminator off its motorcycle but loses control of the truck, which flips over. The Terminator, now bloodied and badly damaged, hijacks a tank truck and attempts to run down Sarah, but Kyle slides a pipe bomb onto the tanker's hose tube, causing an explosion that burns the flesh from the Terminator's endoskeleton. It pursues them into a factory, where Kyle activates machinery to confuse the Terminator. He jams his final pipe bomb into the Terminator's abdomen, blowing it apart, injuring Sarah, and killing himself. Despite being heavily damaged, the Terminator's torso, still operational, reactivates and pursues Sarah. She lures it into a hydraulic press which crushes it. Months later, a pregnant Sarah is traveling through Mexico, recording audio tapes to pass on to her unborn son, John. At a gas station, a boy takes an instant photograph of her and she buys it—the same photograph that John will give to Kyle in the future. Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn (pictured in 2019, 2019, and 2016, respectively) played the film's leads. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic android disguised as a human being sent back in time to assassinate Sarah Connor. Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese, a human Resistance fighter sent back in time to protect Sarah. Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, a 19-year-old diner waitress and the Terminator's target, who is soon to be the mother of the future Resistance leader John Connor. Paul Winfield as Ed Traxler, a police Lieutenant who tries to protect Sarah. Lance Henriksen as Vukovich, a member of the LAPD. Earl Boen as Dr. Silberman, a criminal psychologist. Bess Motta as Ginger, Sarah's roommate. Rick Rossovich as Matt, Ginger's boyfriend. Additional actors included Shawn Schepps as Nancy, Sarah's co-worker at the diner; Dick Miller as a gun shop clerk; professional bodybuilder Franco Columbu as a Terminator in the future; Bill Paxton and Brian Thompson as punks who are confronted and killed by the Terminator; and Marianne Muellerleile as one of the other women with the name "Sarah Connor" who is shot by the Terminator. Production Development In Rome, Italy, during the release of Piranha II: The Spawning, director Cameron fell ill and had a dream about a metallic torso holding kitchen knives dragging itself from an explosion.[9] Inspired by director John Carpenter, who had made the slasher film Halloween (1978) on a low budget, Cameron used the dream as a "launching pad" to write a slasher-style film.[10] Cameron's agent disliked the early concept of the horror film and requested that he work on something else. After this, Cameron dismissed his agent.[11] Cameron returned to Pomona, California and stayed at the home of science fiction writer Randall Frakes, where he wrote the draft for The Terminator.[12] Cameron's influences included 1950s science fiction films, the 1960s fantasy television series The Outer Limits, and contemporary films such as The Driver (1978) and Mad Max 2 (1981).[13][14] To translate the draft into a script, Cameron enlisted his friend Bill Wisher, who had a similar approach to storytelling. Cameron gave Wisher scenes involving Sarah Connor and the police department to write. As Wisher lived far from Cameron, the two communicated ideas by recording tapes of what they wrote by telephone.[clarification needed] Frakes and Wisher would later write the US-released novelization of the movie. The initial outline of the script involved two Terminators being sent to the past. The first was similar to the Terminator in the film, while the second was made of liquid metal and could not be destroyed with conventional weaponry.[15] Cameron felt that the technology of the time was unable to create the liquid Terminator,[15][16] and returned to the idea with the T-1000 character in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).[17] Gale Anne Hurd bought the rights to The Terminator from James Cameron for one dollar.[18] Gale Anne Hurd, who had worked at New World Pictures as Roger Corman's assistant, showed interest in the project.[19] Cameron sold the rights for The Terminator to Hurd for one dollar with the promise that she would produce it only if Cameron was to direct it. Hurd suggested edits to the script and took a screenwriting credit in the film, though Cameron stated that she "did no actual writing at all".[18] Cameron and Hurd had friends who worked with Corman previously and who were working at Orion Pictures (now part of MGM). Orion agreed to distribute the film if Cameron could get financial backing elsewhere. The script was picked up by John Daly, chairman and president of Hemdale Film Corporation.[7] Daly and his executive vice president and head of production Derek Gibson became executive producers of the project.[8] Cameron wanted his pitch for Daly to finalize the deal and had his friend Lance Henriksen show up to the meeting early dressed and acting like the Terminator.[7] Henriksen, wearing a leather jacket, fake cuts on his face, and gold foil on his teeth, kicked open the door to the office and then sat in a chair.[7] Cameron arrived shortly and then relieved the staff from Henriksen's act. Daly was impressed by the screenplay and Cameron's sketches and passion for the film.[7] In late 1982, Daly agreed to back the film with help from HBO and Orion.[7][20] The Terminator was originally budgeted at $4 million and later raised to $6.5 million.[21] Hemdale, Pacific Western Productions and Cinema '84 have been credited as production companies after the film's release.[4][3] Casting For the role of Kyle Reese, Orion wanted a star whose popularity was rising in the United States but who also would have foreign appeal. Orion co-founder Mike Medavoy had met Arnold Schwarzenegger and sent his agent the script for The Terminator.[20]Cameron was uncertain about casting Schwarzenegger as Reese as he felt he would need someone even more famous to play the Terminator. Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson both turned down the Terminator role.[22] The studio suggested O. J. Simpson but Cameron, ironically, did not feel that Simpson would be believable as a killer.[23][24] Cameron agreed to meet with Schwarzenegger and devised a plan to avoid casting him; he would pick a fight with him and return to Hemdale and find him unfit for the role.[25] However, Cameron was entertained by Schwarzenegger, who would talk about how the villain should be played. Cameron began sketching his face on a notepad and asked Schwarzenegger to stop talking and remain still.[24] After the meeting, Cameron returned to Daly saying Schwarzenegger would not play Reese but that "he'd make a hell of a Terminator".[26] Casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as our Terminator, on the other hand, shouldn't have worked. The guy is supposed to be an infiltration unit, and there's no way you wouldn't spot a Terminator in a crowd instantly if they all looked like Arnold. It made no sense whatsoever. But the beauty of movies is that they don't have to be logical. They just have to have plausibility. If there's a visceral, cinematic thing happening that the audience likes, they don't care if it goes against what's likely.[27] —James Cameron on casting Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger was not as excited by the film; during an interview on the set of Conan the Destroyer, an interviewer asked him about a pair of shoes he had, which belonged to the wardrobe for The Terminator. Schwarzenegger responded, "Oh, some shit movie I'm doing, take a couple weeks."[28] He recounted in his memoir, Total Recall, that he was initially hesitant, but thought that playing a robot in a contemporary film would be a challenging change of pace from Conan the Barbarian and that the film was low-profile enough that it would not damage his career if it were unsuccessful. He also wrote that it took him a while "to figure out that Jim [Cameron] was the real deal". To prepare for the role, Schwarzenegger spent three months training with weapons to be able to use them and feel comfortable around them.[26] Schwarzenegger speaks only 17 lines in the film, and fewer than 100 words. James Cameron said that "Somehow, even his accent worked ... It had a strange synthesized quality, like they hadn't gotten the voice thing quite worked out."[29] Various other suggestions were suggested for the role of Reese, including rock musician Sting.[30] Cameron chose Michael Biehn. Biehn, who had recently seen Taxi Driver and had aspirations about acting alongside the likes of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Robert Redford,[31] was originally skeptical, feeling the film was silly. After meeting with Cameron, Biehn stated that his "feelings about the project changed".[30] Hurd stated that "almost everyone else who came in from the audition was so tough that you just never believed that there was gonna be this human connection between Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. They have very little time to fall in love. A lot of people came in and just could not pull it off."[32] To get into Reese's character, Biehn studied the Polish resistance movement in World War II.[33] In the first pages of the script, Sarah Connor is described as "19, small and delicate features. Pretty in a flawed, accessible way. She doesn't stop the party when she walks in, but you'd like to get to know her. Her vulnerable quality masks a strength even she doesn't know exists."[34] Cameron cast Linda Hamilton, who had just finished filming Children of the Corn.[35] Rosanna Arquette had previously auditioned.[36] Cameron found a role for Lance Henriksen as Vukovich, as Henriksen had been essential to finding finances for the film.[37] For the special effects shots, Cameron wanted Dick Smith, who had worked on The Godfather and Taxi Driver. Smith did not take Cameron's offer and suggested his friend Stan Winston.[38] Filming Filming for The Terminator was set to begin in early 1983 in Toronto, but was halted when producer Dino De Laurentiis applied an option in Schwarzenegger's contract that would make him unavailable for nine months while he was filming Conan the Destroyer. During the waiting period, Cameron was contracted to write the script for Rambo: First Blood Part II, refined the Terminator script, and met with producers David Giler and Walter Hill to discuss a sequel to Alien, which became Aliens, released in 1986.[37][39] There was limited interference from Orion Pictures. Two suggestions Orion put forward included the addition of a canine android for Reese, which Cameron refused, and to strengthen the love interest between Sarah and Reese, which Cameron accepted.[40] To create the Terminator's look, Winston and Cameron passed sketches back and forth, eventually deciding on a design nearly identical to Cameron's original drawing in Rome.[38][41] Winston had a team of seven artists work for six months to create a Terminator puppet; it was first molded in clay, then plaster reinforced with steel ribbing. These pieces were then sanded, painted and then chrome-plated. Winston sculpted reproduction of Schwarzenegger's face in several poses out of silicone, clay and plaster.[41] The sequences set in 2029 and the stop-motion scenes were developed by Fantasy II, a special effects company headed by Gene Warren Junior.[42] A stop-motion model is used in several s