40 years of the movie “Terminator”: history of creation and interesting facts

The sci-fi blockbuster Terminator conquered world cinema 40 years ago - the first film was released in October 1984. And the iconic phrase "I'll be back" proved to be prophetic. He did indeed return over the decades, in six more fantastic feature films and the long-running anime seriesTerminator: Zero", which was released in late August 2024.

According to the IMDb rating, the first film is still ranked 218th in the TOP 250 best films of world cinema, and the second, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, is 28th.

Next, let's take a closer look at how the first film was created, how it managed to conquer audiences around the world and still hold its own in the movie ratings, and interesting facts about the film that every connoisseur of quality cinema should know.

How the first Terminator was filmed

The Terminator came to its creator, Canadian filmmaker James Cameron, in a dream. While filming one of his movies, the artist caught a cold, had a high fever and other accompanying symptoms. In this state, his brain generated an image of a robot coming out of the fire with a knife in his hand. After that, in 1982, the director wrote the film's script in collaboration with his friend William Wisher.

As is often the case with geniuses, it took a long time to find funding for the film. Large film companies did not want to take on the project. So Cameron sold it to a novice producer, Gail Anne Hurd , for just $1.

Filming began in the fall of 1983. Several versions of the endoskeleton were specially created for them: a full-length human body, the upper half of the torso controlled by puppeteers, and a smaller copy for frame-by-frame animation. A part of the face was also made separately for the scenes where the eye camera is visible. For the final scene, we made a mannequin out of thick foil with an eye in the shape of a small red light bulb.

Orion Pictures allocated$6.4 million for the production of the film, although this was too little. To keep within the budget, Cameron had to choose which scenes to include special effects in. In the end, they were the battle in the future at the beginning of the movie and the appearance of the Terminator in the form of an endoskeleton at the end.

In general, we had to save on a lot of things. For example, for this purpose, some scenes were filmed right on the street without any permits. Because of this, real passersby often got into the frame. In addition, the film's cinematographer, Adam Greenberg, used a regular wheeled chair instead of a special camera chair, which was quite expensive to rent.

It is also interesting that composer Brad Fadell created the famous metallic clang from the main theme using a cast-iron frying pan to bang on the microphone. And the effect of smoke rising from the Terminator's jacket was achieved with acid.

In addition, Arnold Schwarzenegger, despite his leading role, spoke only 17 sentences in 16 scenes.

There are many scenes with car chases in the movie. In fact, they were filmed at normal speed and accelerated during editing. At the same time, other cars with rotating lights were driving behind the scenes to create the impression that the car being filmed was outrunning the other light sources.

So, despite the limited budget, director James Cameron managed to create a tense and gloomy atmosphere with the help of special effects and the depiction of a dark, post-apocalyptic future.

What are the reasons for the popularity of the TerminatormovieThe plot is well known even to those who are not fans of the franchise. The main concept of the film revolves around the theme of the artificial intelligence Skynet, which is out of control and threatens to destroy humanity.

The movie features time travel, cyborgs, the struggle for survival, fierce battles and shootouts, speed, and a reassessment of human values. A robot in human form has come from the future to find and destroy Sarah Connor, who was about to give birth to a son who could win the war between humans and machines.

The image of the Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, has become a cult symbol of the 80s film industry. His imperturbability, invincibility and iconic phrases made his character memorable and unique.

«Terminator" raises a number of "eternal themes". First of all, it is about the eternal struggle between good and evil, which in this film is depicted as a confrontation between machines and humans

Another idea revealed in the story is the value of human life. After all, despite technological progress, it is human values such as love, friendship, and faith that become the most important in the struggle for survival.

And the main question is how far humans can go in developing technology and improving artificial intelligence, as well as how long they can control it. It's interesting that 40 years have passed, but the topic is still relevant today.

Overall, the film makes us think about important questions about human nature, the meaning of life, and the future of civilization. It influenced the development of the science fiction and cinema genre, and still inspires filmmakers and writers.

Interesting facts about the movie "Terminator"

1. For his role in the first Terminator in 1984, Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid $750 thousand. For comparison, he received a whopping $30 million fee for filming the third movie, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, at .
2. One of the most iconic phrases in the history of cinema, I'll be back, was originally written as I'll come back. It was Schwarzenegger who insisted that it be changed. He and Cameron even had a dispute about it. In the end, the director agreed, but asked Arnie not to interfere with the script anymore.
3. In the original version of the script, it was assumed that the Terminator had to eat from time to time to keep his human flesh in good condition. There was also a scene in which he eats a chocolate bar.
4. Orion Pictures asked director Cameron to make two changes to the script. First, that Kyle Reese should be accompanied by a cyborg dog, an idea that Cameron rejected. The second was that there should be a love story between Reese and Sarah, a request that was taken into account.
5. One of the most impressive moments in the movie is when Reese blows up the truck driven by the Terminator. To achieve this, a 2.5-meter tanker truck model was equipped with 42 separate explosives.

By the way, the post-apocalyptic future depicted in the first Terminator is 2029, which we have to wait only 5 years for. So, who knows, maybe we can avoid such a scenario and create a world where people and technology live in harmony.