When director James Cameron made the first Terminator movie, he cast an ex-bodybuilder who would later go on to become the governor of California, a guy by the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But if the guy calling the shots at the studio had gotten his way, a very different ex-athlete who would later go on to a very different kind of fame in California would have been The Terminator: O.J. Simpson.
Cameron revealed on Sunday's 60 Minutes that he had to persuade the studio boss not to cast the Juice in the role.
"The head of Orion, who were going to release the film, called me up and said, 'Are you sitting down? I've cast this movie. ... It's O.J. Simpson for The Terminator,'" Cameron recalled.
So how did the director take the suggestion?
"I said, 'This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard,'" Cameron said, adding, "I didn't know O.J. Simpson, I had nothing against him personally. I didn't know he was going to go murder his wife later and become a real Terminator."I'd have to say Cameron probably made the right move in putting his foot down on the O.J. thing. And I'd have to say I'm not surprised that Orion later went bankrupt.
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