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During his interview with Howard Stern, Arnold Schwarzenegger recalled that after his audition to play Kyle Reese, he met with James Cameron for lunch. Instead of talking about his ideas for Reese, however, Schwarzenegger was focused on how former NFL star O.J. Simpson — who took up acting years before his controversial legal troubles — should approach playing The Terminator since he was the frontrunner for the role.
“I said, ‘I know you guys have already probably hired O.J. Simpson, [to play the Terminator, but] whoever is playing it, I just want you to be clear that he has to train himself; to sample weapons and put weapons together and to shoot and to load the weapons, [and to do all of this] totally blindfolded,'” Schwarzenegger told Stern. He then recalled explaining the reason behind this to Cameron. “As a machine, he could never look down at his hands … It has to be absolutely clear at all times that this is a machine with absolutely no human behavior,” the actor said.
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Schwarzenegger told Stern that he went on for about an hour with Cameron, telling him how the character should be embodied — to which the director replied, “Why don’t you play [The] Terminator? You understand him so well, this character. This is exactly what we need.'” Instead of leaping at the opportunity, though, Schwarzenegger said he was resistant to playing the role.
