Nearly 40 years later, The Terminator producer Gale Ann Hurd has revealed why a pivotal scene – that would explain away franchise plot holes – was ultimately cut from the film.
“The Terminator financier John Daly’s Hemdale had an output deal with Orion Pictures, but hadn’t yet made a hit (that changed with our film and Platoon),” Hurd explained via Twitter. “They insisted we use financier friends not actors in this scene, which ruined it for us.”
Added Hurd: “[director] Jim [Cameron] (thankfully) was never satisfied with ‘just ok’, even back then!”
Though the scene is only a minute long, it’s a pretty vital moment that explains how Cyberdyne Systems came to be in possession of the microchip that is ultimately placed inside the terminators. It basically reveals that the Terminator’s is the father of Skynet, as Kyle Reese is the father of John Connor – parallel journeys for two opposing forces. (It also makes That Controversial Scene in Terminator: Dark Fate seem even more nonsensical).
“They were paid as actors, via the Taft-Hartley Act. I think he insisted they be in the film because the financiers were promised a return on their investment and had yet to receive one. Daly never believed the film would be a success,” Hurd went on to explain. Overall, it seems that the team – namely director James Cameron – wasn’t happy with how the scene turned out, and that, at the time, they figured it’d be an easy cut. I think they should do a 40th-anniversary release with the scene included – but maybe that’s just me.
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