Cameron originally envisioned Lance Henriksen playing the Terminator (he played LAPD Detective Hal Vukovich in the final film, and then the android Bishop in Cameron's next film, Alien). The idea was that Henriksen looked like a normal man and could camouflage himself inside a human. He certainly wouldn't get any more attention than bodybuilder Schwarzenegger. Additionally, producer Gale Anne Hurd told EW that she and Cameron thought they could keep the budget down by using unknown actors.Medavoy, but actually I wanted This is because they spend a lot of money to acquire celebrities.
Medavoy suggested to Cameron and Heard that Schwarzenegger play Kyle Reese and Simpson play the Terminator. He explained to EW: “At the time, there was a scene in a Hertz commercial where O.J. Simpson jumped over the counter and ran to get a rental car. It was all that athletic stuff that I thought should be in The Terminator.” ”
Mr Hurd and Mr Cameron expressed discomfort with both of these proposals. Cameron's opposition to Simpson had a double meaning. For one thing, he thought a movie about a threatening black man chasing a white woman would send a racist message (and yes, that's a good thing). Second, he thought the role of the Terminator did not fit the public perception of Simpson at the time as “this likable, goofy, innocent guy.”
“Let me tell you, this was before O.J. actually became a murderer,” Cameron darkly joked. “Maybe he had second thoughts after he killed his wife.”*
*Simpson was infamously tried in 1994-1995 for the double murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. He was acquitted but later found liable in a civil suit by the Goldman family.
