Hi, Hive account@netflixr! Great of you to drop by! This film also scared the daylights out of my mom, who, bless her, was bound and determined to watch anything that was in any way 'mature' with me to make sure it was OK for me to watch. She had dreams about unkillable robots for at least a week afterwards, and we'd only watched the "edited for TV" version that played on one of the networks. :)

The whole story of who was nearly cast for what part in The Terminator is fascinating! Cameron originally wanted Lance Henriksen to play the role and, in fact, Henriksen donned shades, a trench coat, boots, and whatnot to help get the film financed. When Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd had their meeting with the producers at Hemdale, Henriksen preceeded them into the building in-character and in-costume. He kicked in the door to the office, then sat across from the secretary and just looked mean, not saying a word, and unnerving the staff for several minutes until Cameron and Hurd showed up to explain, "This is the concept for the character." :D

OJ Simpson was suggested for the part, but Cameron didn't want him because he didn't think Simpson looked like a killer. Sylvester Stallone was also considered, but turned the role down. Cameron's first choice was Henriksen, because Henriksen was still a relatively unknown presence and they felt that not only could he play the role but he'd help keep the budget within reason. Unfortunately the studio wanted someone more well-known, and with Arnold having just finished making Conan the Barbarian, they felt he'd be perfect in the movie.

Schwarzeneggar originally was suggested to play Reese, but after Cameron met with him, he realized that while Schwarzeneggar had paid close attention the script, virtually everything he got excited about involved the villain, and not the hero. And the more he talked about it, the more Cameron was like, "Yeah, this guy's a human bulldozer. If he came after you, it would be terrifying."

And the rest his history. :)