Schwarzenegger is in full training mode to return to the role that made him a household name but interestingly Arnold could be training to return to his most popular role… the Villain T-800 killer cyborg.
Mirror reports:
He is being reunited with director James Cameron, who made him a star in the original Terminator in 1984. There have been four sequels.
Production designer Norm Newberry said the combination will save the franchise – and added that Arnold still has the talent to make fans believe he is a killer.
“After all, he made us believe he was a governor of California – so he could do anything,” he said.
Changing Arnold from bad machine to good machine has received a divided reception; you have your fans that prefer the villain T-800 and then you have the good T-800 fans who love Uncle Bob and Pops. We’ve made no secret that we find good Terminators pretty boring at this stage and the numbers speak for themselves.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has continually mentioned over the years that he is proud that his Terminator roles have made both AFI’s top 100 heroes and villains lists for the T-800 but we personally find the facts slightly embarrassing.
Terminator Judgment Day’s T-800 ranked number 48th in the list for hero popularity.
| 48 | Terminator (in TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY) |
The T-800 from The Terminator (1984) ranked 22nd in the villain list.
| 22 | Terminator (in THE TERMINATOR) |
So, why when Arnold’s villain is proven by the American Film Institute as being superior (over double the popularity stakes) and more preferred by the majority of fans,- do they keep doing protector comedy T-800’s? The damn truth of the matter is that Terminator 2 made a ton of money because the first movie was a sleeper hit and they wanted to see the sequel to it and it is not really acknowledged because the rhetoric is the watered down action tone of the sequel suits the box office model agenda and younger target audience more. This is money Vs art but will the new Terminator movie break that barrier and put art before money once again and will they take the risk to reap the rewards of going fully Rated R?
We don’t want to get our hopes up about ever seeing Arnold as a true Terminator villain again and we don’t even class good Terminator roles as Terminators… they don’t kill. To us they are protectors.
We always believed the return of Hamilton would be awesome and we have also believed the return of Arnold as a villain would be equally successful but it just depends if we are going full roots Terminator or T2 emulation Terminator movie. The movie, so far, is looking pretty damn good, Linda looks badass,- the summer release date shifted to November and this could be pointing towards something special but we remember Mackenzie Davis talking about Miller wanting to ground a lot of comedy in the movie and we really hope they heard fan concern and back-tracked for the sake of integrity.
What do you want to see Arnold good or Arnold bad… sound off in the comments below!