Arnold Schwarzenegger trashed The Terminator as “some s*** movie” right before filming began. This James Cameron movie not only established the director as an exciting (and fiery) new talent, it also kicked off an iconic franchise. Its success might seem obvious in hindsight, but on paper, the premise definitely raises some eyebrows.

A pitch involving “A cyborg covered in human flesh traveling back in time to ᴀssᴀssinate the mother of a future human resistance leader” sounds like the stuff of a bad sci-fi novel. It speaks to Cameron’s talent that it turned out to be a classic, but it’s easy to see why some of the cast and crew had doubts.

Schwarzenegger’s casting in the original Terminator movie proved a stroke of genius, too – even if it went against the concept of an infiltration unit that could easily blend into a crowd. At this time in his career, Arnie was still best known as a bodybuilder and the star of Conan the Barbarian.

Schwarzenegger has often held The Terminator up as the film that made his career, and speaks glowingly about working with Cameron. According to a Total Film (via The Terminator Files) retrospective on the film from 2001, it appears Arnie had doubts about its success.

Schwarzenegger Called The Terminator “Some S*** Movie” Prior To Filming

Just as the film was gearing up to shoot, it had to be pushed back as Schwarzenegger was committed to filming Conan the Destroyer. According to Total Film, Arnold was visited by a fellow bodybuilder named Rick Wayne during the filming of Conan 2, who commented on an interesting pair of shoes Schwarzenegger was holding.

I said: ‘What are those for?’. [Schwarzenegger] said: ‘Oh, some sнιт movie I’m doing, take a couple of weeks.’ It was The Terminator. That was the movie that made Arnold.’ For him it was just some crap film.”

If true, this paints Schwarzenegger’s insistence that he knew The Terminator would be a hit in a different light. Arnie was very canny with his acting career when he started out, and thanks to his independent wealth from his other businesses, he could choose to be picky about the roles he took.

With The Terminator, he saw a chance to play a different kind of character – in this case, a total villain – that could show him off in a new light. Still, it was regarded as a silly B-movie by nearly everyone involved, including co-stars Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn.

It’s entirely possible Arnie cooled on the project in the time between signing on and actually filming it, and he only started to believe in its potential while making The Terminator. Arnold certainly wouldn’t be the first actor who starred in a hit to believe he was making a bad movie during production.

Schwarzenegger Felt The Terminator Was A “Low Profile” Risk

Arnold is as much a businessman as he is an actor or politician, and in his memoir Total Recall, he spoke of the risk/reward element of The Terminator. His agent thought it was a bad idea, but Schwarzenegger felt he could “shine” in the role while being dressed in “cool clothes” and firing large guns.

He also liked the $750,000 payday involved, and that it would be filming in L.A. The biggest bonus to The Terminator was that if it worked, it could boost his career and if it didn’t, it wouldn’t hurt him in the long run.

Yet the project was also low profile enough that I wouldn’t be risking my entire reputation by trying something new.

In short, even if The Terminator flopped, it wouldn’t really impact his career one way or another. He also had the cushion of the Conan sequel to fall back on in 1984, so in just about every way, there was no particular downside to taking a sH๏τ on it.

Schwarzenegger Still Did Great Work On The Terminator

It’s well known that Arnie originally met with Cameron about the Kyle Reese role, after the likes of Sting had pᴀssed on it. Schwarzenegger admitted the Reese role hadn’t really grabbed him, and then went on to pᴀssionately give his view on how the Terminator should be played.

This is what inspired Cameron to cast him as the villain instead, but if Schwarzenegger went into The Terminator anticipating it would be “s***,” it didn’t show in his performance. Much of the cyborg’s body language came from Arnold himself, such as the T-800 turning its eyes before it turns its head to mimic a surveillance camera.

He worked extensively on the body language of the character, including the cyborg’s slow, deliberate movements and never expressing emotion. Schwarzenegger also spent hours dismantling and reᴀssembling weapons while blindfolded to become totally comfortable handling firearms.

The Terminator Made Arnie A Movie Star

It’s hard to imagine how Schwarzenegger’s career would have progressed if The Terminator hadn’t come his way. It handed him an instantly iconic role, and one that played to his strengths instead of his limitations. It helped that he followed the movie up with Commando, where he played a one-liner spewing action hero that was tuned to his comic strengths.

Schwarzenegger’s determination to be a star means he would have found another vehicle tailored to his talents – but it wouldn’t have been as perfect as The Terminator. The film pushed him to the top of the A-list, where he enjoyed a decade-long run of hits like Predator, Twins and Total Recall.

That’s not even mentioning the various Terminator sequels. That’s not a bad legacy for “some s*** movie,” though it’s very likely Arnold holds the film in much greater esteem now.

Source: Total Film (via The Terminator Files), Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story