Linda Hamilton thought Arnold Schwarzenegger was a 'poser' and just a 'bodybuilder pretending to be an actor' when she worked with him on 'The Terminator'
- Linda Hamilton initially thought Arnold Schwarzenegger was a "poser" when making "The Terminator."
- The star said she thought Schwarzenegger was just a "bodybuilder pretending to be an actor."
"The Terminator" is undoubtedly one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's most iconic roles, because the hulking bodybuilder captures the intimidating T-800 killing machine perfectly with his stiff and imposing presence.
Although the 1984 film has become a beloved blockbuster, leading lady Linda Hamilton had "doubts" about the project when she signed on to play future resistance fighter, Sarah Connor.
In Netflix's "Arnold" docuseries, Hamilton recalled what it was like joining the James Cameron movie.
"It was truly just another job. I didn't think that it was particularly greater than over scripts that I'd read. I mean, really clueless. It was very low budget and we were all rather new at it. I definitely had my doubts," she said.
And when she started working with Schwarzenegger as the titular menacing robot, Hamilton thought he was a "poser" because of his bodybuilding background.
She said: "By our snotty definition, Arnold was a poser. A bodybuilder pretending to be an actor."
However, Hamilton said she changed her mind after watching Schwarzenegger on set.
"But because I was curious, I went and stood off the sidelines watching Arnold, and I bought it. The physicality and the stiffness and all of the things that he was implementing," Hamilton said.
"I was like, 'OK, this might work,'" she added.
Hamilton was right, because the film made $78 million against its $6.4 million budget, and Schwarzenegger would go on to reprise the role in future sequels, even though the Austrian star wasn't originally impressed by the script for "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" because he didn't get to kill anyone.
Hamilton and Schwarzenegger reunited for 2019's "Terminator: Dark Fate," which is a direct sequel to "Judgment Day" and ignores all the previous sequels. Unfortunately, the movie failed to live up to expectations, making $261 million against its $185 million budget.
Surprisingly, director James Cameron recently told audiences at the Dell Tech World conference in Las Vegas that he's started writing a "Terminator" reboot.