To promote 1984’s The Terminator movie Arnold Schwarzenegger took time out from filming to sit with Spanish media to explain The Terminator character to movie-goers in Spain.
TheTerminatorFans.com’s Spanish Correspondent Javier Cárceles translates the video for our users…
Interviewer:
What is your character in Terminator?
Arnold Schwarzenegger:
My character is precisely the Terminator, how the name itself indicates I am the one that puts an end to the lives of others. I am sent from the year 2035 to the current time to end the lives of the people who are responsible for changing the future. The whole movie revolves around the search for a woman named Sarah Connor. To find her, what I do is to tear off the page of the phone book and I’m locating and killing all the women with that name. In order to find what I know. It is a very violent movie with a lot of action. Perhaps what makes this violence more tolerable is that it is exercised by a robot because the character that I play is half man half robot. Therefore, this violence can be understood in a different way than if it were exercised by a human being.
The Terminator character has changed over the years, causing a divide over preference of the original portrayal (Villain) Vs everything from T2 onward (Hero). While we knew most of what Arnold said (in the video) it is nice to see a behind the scenes contrast to the excellent Terminator villain he portrayed… and before people start saying that he was sent from the year 2029 not 2035… we know but that could be a simple human error or a fact that was changed during production of the movie.
James Cameron was having serious moral issues with just how popular and how loved THE TERMINATOR villain/character was but as Arnold states The Terminator is not human, so it is not a simple issue of mass murder but the actions of a programmed machine.
Horror Icons are beloved by their fan base but perhaps The Terminator franchise and political correctness totally disallowed Terminator to become a cult horror franchise (summer tent-pole was the agenda). While the world has celebrated the hero, Hollywood is now green-lighting more Villain origin movies that put a darker spin on their respective franchises. Are we going back to the dark roots that Terminator was born from or the shiny steel slick gusto of its sequel, or a mix of both…?