Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed that former NFL player O.J. Simpson nearly took the iconic titular role in "The Terminator," but producers weren't convinced that movie-goers would be able to see him as "a killing machine."
Schwarzenegger made the revelation in the new Netflix docuseries, "Arnold," which looks at his life, his hugely successful acting career, and his transition into politics in the early 2000s. The series premieres on Wednesday.
In the docuseries, Schwarzenegger is joined by "The Terminator" director James Cameron to look back at how he became such an iconic figure in the late 1970s.
Cameron recalled that Mike Medavoy, the cofounder of Orion Pictures, which distributed the film, had whittled the cast down to Simpson as the Terminator and Schwarzenegger as resistance fighter Kyle Reese.
"I had been told by Mike Medavoy that the movie was all cast. 'I got this all worked out. O.J. Simpson and Arnold Schwarzenegger,'" Cameron recalled. "I said, 'Well, which is which?' Those two names just sounded so wrong to me."
Cameron added that when he met Schwarzenegger, he was instantly struck by his looks.
"I'm just sitting there watching him. It's like when the sound goes down, and I'm just seeing how the lights kicking off the glass windows is hitting his face when the door opens. I mean, I'm thinking, 'He's got a hell of a face,'" Cameron said.
Schwarzenegger then recalled how "no one" at Orion Pictures was convinced that Simpson could pull off playing the robotic killer.
"During our conversation, it became clear no one was hooked to O.J. Simpson playing Terminator because he could not be sold as a killing machine," said the actor.
Just a decade after "The Terminator" was released, Simpson was at the center of "the trial of the century" in 1994 when he was accused of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
The former football player was implicated in the crime as a result of forensic evidence, including a blood-stained glove.
While Simpson was acquitted of the crime in 1995, a civil lawsuit against Simpson found the star liable for the deaths in 1997.
In the documentary series, Schwarzenegger recalled how Cameron convinced him to play the role of the Terminator.
"I said, 'Look, whoever it is, he has to go and be totally unlike a human being,'" the actor said. "The way he steps on the motorcycle, the way he runs, the way he gets up. Everything has to be exactly like a machine. He says, 'Why don't you play the Terminator? You totally understand that character. You are the machine.'"
Schwarzenegger recalled responding, "'No, no, no, I don't want to play villains. The character only has 26 lines.'"
"I started fighting him about it and he calmly just said, 'Well, think about it,'" said the actor. "I thought for three days, then I called him back and I said, 'Every time I reread it I visualize myself more and more playing Terminator.' I told him I'm in and then we started prepping."
"Arnold" begins streaming on Netflix on Wednesday.
