James Cameron Says He Knows Parts of ‘Terminator’ Are “Cringeworthy,” Shuts Down Critics of Dialogue in His Films
James Cameron reflected on being “just a punk” when he directed The Terminator and how, looking back now, he knows it wasn’t perfect.
The Oscar-winning director spoke to Empire magazine ahead of the classic sci-fi film’s 40th anniversary next month and noted he considers the project his first, despite technically getting his first director credit on Piranha II.
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“I was just a punk starting out when I directed The Terminator. I think I was 29 at the time, and it was my first directing gig,” he told the publication. “Terminator was my first film, and it’s near and dear for that reason.”
Despite it having a special place in his heart, the Titanic helmer admitted he doesn’t think of it as “some Holy Grail.” He added, “I look at it now, and there are parts of it that are pretty cringeworthy and parts of it that are like, ‘Yeah, we did pretty well for the resources we had available.’”
Cameron also took a moment to address people who have criticized his films for their dialogue, pointing out he apparently has “a lower cringe factor than, apparently, a lot of people do around the dialogue that I write.” But the box office speaks for itself. “Let me see your three-out-of-the-four-highest-grossing films — then we’ll talk about dialogue effectiveness,” he said.
While Terminator was released in 1984, it remains a part of pop culture decades later, and the Avatar writer-director thinks that star Arnold Schwarzenegger is the reason. However, he and the film’s creative team had originally envisioned a more subtle, skulking killer for their cyborg assassin.
“I think a lot of filmmakers, especially first-time filmmakers, get very, very stuck in a vision, because of insecurity,” Cameron said. “I’m proud of the fact that we weren’t stuck enough to not be able to see how it could work with Arnold, because it wasn’t our vision. Sometimes, when you look back from the vantage point — at this point 40 years — we could have made a great little film from a production-value standpoint, and it would have been nothing if we hadn’t made that one decision that captured the imagination of people.”
Schwarzenegger starred alongside Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Kyle Reese, Paul Winfield and Lance Henriksen in the film that launched a still-ongoing franchise.
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