10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About ‘Terminator 2’
As T2 turns 25, say “hasta la vista, baby” to your lack of knowledge about the classic cyborg sequel.
The year is 1991. George H.W. Bush is in the White House, “I Wanna Sex You Up” By Color Me Badd rules the radio airwaves and Arnold Schwarzenegger is a straight-up action hero set to reprise his iconic role as an Austrian-accented death machine. The James Cameron-directed cyborg sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, released on July 3, is about to become the highest-grossing movie of the year.
This weekend, Terminator 2: Judgment Day turns 25. Let us mark this momentous occasion by revealing 10 things about the movie you probably don’t know.
1. James Cameron sold the rights to the series for $1.
Cameron reportedly sold the rights to the entire franchise for a dollar in exchange for the opportunity to direct the original 1984 Terminator. But that didn’t stop Cameron from becoming the third-richest director of all time. As Arnold would say, “he’ll live.”
2. Billy Idol was almost T-1000.
Terminator 2 sure confused audiences when Schwarzenegger’s terrifying T-800, the antagonist of the first film, spent T2 trying to protect John Connor. T-1000, played by Robert Patrick, took over bad guy duties. But T-1000 was almost portrayed by sneering pop star Billy Idol, who bailed after getting into a motorcycle accident.
3. Arnold was worried about playing the good guy.
Cameron told Schwarzenegger over breakfast that he wouldn’t be killing anyone in Terminator 2. “But Jim,” Schwarzenegger responded, “I’m the Terminator.” It took some sweet-talking, but Cameron finally convinced Schwarzenegger that he would not be terminating anyone.
4. T2 won four Oscars.
The cyborg blockbuster won “Best Sound,” “Best Sound Effects,” “Best Visual Effects,” and “Best Makeup.” It was also nominated for “Best Cinematography” and “Best Film Editing.”
5. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever made.
With a budget of $102 million, it had an astronomical budget for 1991. Luckily for the future of both the series and James Cameron, it doubled its budget and made $204 million in domestic box office gross. Of course, Cameron later shattered that record when he directed Titanic, which became the highest-grossing movie ever.
6. The original ending was changed.
The original ending that was shot and ready to go had John Connor living peacefully in the future. Of course, happiness doesn’t allow for sequels, so the ending was changed at the last minute to make way for Terminator 3. However, the original finish can still be seen on collector’s edition DVDs of the film.
7. It’s the best Terminator movie
Well, depending on who you ask. T2 has nearly the triple the votes of the original on IMDb. But the original movie has a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, while the sequel boasts a still pretty impressive 93 percent.
8. “Hasta la vista, baby” didn’t play well in Spain
Turns out, the humor of teaching a robot to say, “hasta la vista, baby” doesn’t quite work for Spanish audiences. The version released in Spain has the line changed to “Sayonara, baby” to preserve the humor of T-800 using a catchphrase in another language.
9. Schwarzenegger was paid $21,000 per word
If you do the math, considering he only speaks 700 words throughout the film, divided into his $15 million salary, every word he says cost the studio $21,429. Obviously this figure doesn’t account for the fact that the guy does all of his own stunts for the most part.
10. The mini-gun was the same one used in Predator.
Say hasta la vista baby to this list with a classic video of this badass beauty that pulled double duty in two Schwarzenegger films.
h/t FILMdetail
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