Here is why Arnold Schwarzenegger argued with ‘Terminator’ director James Cameron

WASHINGTON: Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger recalled his argument with ‘Terminator’ director James Cameron.

“I studied the script for a month, and I have someone that reads the parts with me, and we rehearse and we do reps. It’s from bodybuilding — reps, reps, reps. The more reps you do, the better you get”, said Arnold, reported People.

“It also comes from the old school. Billy Wilder, the Austrian director, always said, ‘I didn’t hire you to be interpreters. I hired you to be actors’. The old directors were fanatics about ‘Study your dialogue and hit the mark’,” he recalled.

During the discussion, Arnold revealed he had fight with the director over lines, but Cameron wouldn’t budge. Arnold provided an example of how ‘Jim Cameron is like that’, recalling when he told him, “I don’t like the line ‘I’ll be back’.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls trying to change the iconic line “I’ll be back” to “I will be back” because of his accent — but James Cameron wasn’t having it. “As far as I know, I wrote the script,” Cameron told him. #ActorsOnActors https://t.co/blmS1nwujh pic.twitter.com/DHYpwThKhp

— Variety (@Variety) June 3, 2025

“He says, ‘What do you mean you don’t like the line?’ I said, ‘It’s just weird for a German to say, “I’ll be back.” Why not just say, “I will be back”?’ “

Cameron responded to Arnold by saying, “Oh, you’re trying to tell me how to be a better writer? Because I’m not telling you to be a better actor. Just say, ‘I’ll be back’. If you want me to do 10 takes because you feel insecure about it, we can do that. But don’t change my writing”. Of course the line stayed, and has been quoted endlessly ever since, reported People.

In 2023, Schwarzenegger praised Cameron’s writing on ‘The Terminator’ for predicting the future of artificial intelligence, which has now “become a reality,” as he said.

“Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go,” the actor said of current concerns around AI, during ‘An Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger’ in Los Angeles in June 2023. “And in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over,” as per the outlet.

Schwarzenegger celebrated the “brilliance of writing” in Cameron’s sci-fi film, given that “at that time we had scratched the surface of AI, artificial intelligence. Think about that.”

“Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality. So it’s not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today. And so this is the extraordinary writing of Jim Cameron,” Schwarzenegger added, reported People. (ANI)