It appears that even though Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s T-800 enjoys smiling in Terminator movies, this wasn’t the case on the first movie; The Terminator (1984), so much so that he didn’t even want executive producer John Daly smiling around him.
James Cameron recently told the BFI:
“The first time John Daly visited the set – it was the night we were shooting the Tech Noir club scene – he was standing next to Arnold proudly smiling, and rocking on his heels. Arnold looked over at him, in full Terminator wardrobe, and in his Austrian accent said ‘John, every time I see you, you’re always smiling.’
James Cameron told BFI
Then he pulled out his massive .45 automatic, jammed it under John’s jaw, and said ‘Personally I hate that.’ John went pale and left shortly thereafter. He never came on set again when Arnold was filming.”
Arnold’s antics obviously freaked out the proud John Daly, who was a firm believer that The Terminator would be a success, after all Hemdale, under John Daly, made many movies – with a combined gross of over $1.5 billion.
The gun that Arnold jammed into John Daly’s jaw was an AMT Hardballer .45 Longslide, which was the T-800‘s first weapon of choice for trying to terminate Sarah Connor in Tech Noir. The gun previously had been used to terminate the wrong Sarah Connor and Ginger (Sarah Connor’s friend and roommate).
Let’s face it, Arnold looked incredibly intimidating in the first Terminator movie and having this equally intimidating firearm rammed into your jaw, combined with that killer Schwarzenegger physique; especially if you weren’t expecting it, would chill you to to the core.
John Daly sadly passed away on October 31st 2008.
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