James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd all appeared for the thirty year anniversary screening for The Terminator on October 15, 2014 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t make it due to him being sick. This doesn’t mean he let the fans down as he made a video apology to make up for his absence.
It’s great that Schwarzenegger did this as it shows a connection between him and his fans. And who wouldn’t love the murdering machine? Not a lot of people, that’s for sure.
“The head of marketing for Orion Pictures at the time told us [The Terminator] is not a science fiction film – it’s a down and dirty action exploitation film that’ll come and go in one week,” Cameron stated.
It is always amusing to hear tales of how these famous works were said not to be able to last the test of time. It’s a good thing to keep in mind when you’re trying to get something published yourself.
Gale Anne Hurd stated,“What great films share is that they’re character-driven. The plot revolves around choices the characters make, and the characters propel us into the story. Audiences respond to that. Studios, unfortunately, are not taking the same kinds of risks. If something doesn’t already exist as a successful book or comic book or game, it’s very hard to get original films made.”
In other words: you care about the story because you care about the characters. You care that Sarah Connor and her future son live. You are frightened by the Terminator because she’s in danger.
And Hurd has a point that studio heads don’t tend to see it like that. They think that putting a couple of cool explosions in is the same thing. It isn’t and audiences can tell.
Today Gale Anne Hurd works on the AMC show The Walking Dead. Like the Terminator franchise, it deals with people surviving after the world has ended. It also is a very character driven show with the walkers (aka the show’s version of zombies) being background characters.
Unlike the Terminator franchise, instead of SkyNet there is a virus that turns you into the undead.
James Cameron has nothing on his plate, but his eyes are directed at Pandora.
(Source)