‘Terminator’ producer reveals why key end scene was scrapped

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Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd has finally revealed why James Cameron cut a key scene from his landmark 1984 science-fiction movie that tied more closely to the film’s future sequels.

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Hurd took to X this week to share the scene in question, which showed how two employees from Cyberdyne Systems, the tech company that eventually created the dangerous AI known as Skynet, found the computer chip that powered the deadly Terminator killing machines.

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The writer-producer then revealed that the James Cameron, who wrote and directed the film, cut the sequence due to bad acting.

“#TheTerminator financier John Daly’s #HemdaleFilms had an output deal with #OrionPictures but hadn’t yet made a hit (that changed with our film and #Platoon),” Hurd, who was married to Cameron for four years, wrote. “They insisted we use financier friends not actors in this scene, which ruined it for us.”

Hurd went on to add that Daly wanted his friends in the film because “the financiers were promised a return on their investment and had yet to receive one.”

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“Was it the acting or the forced use of non-actors? They seem fine I guess performance wise for that brief scene,” one fan pointedly asked Hurd on X.

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“Jim (thankfully) was never satisfied with ‘just OK’, even back then!” Hurd replied.

In The Terminator, Cameron cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as a cyborg assassin who is sent back in time to kill the mother of the human resistance warrior who, in the future, leads an uprising against a sentient machine guided by AI.

The deleted scene, which has racked up over 130,000 views on YouTube, hinted at how that dangerous new tech was given birth.

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In the comments, many fans of the 1984 sleeper hit weighed in on the cut sequence, saying it should have stayed in the finished product.

“It explains a lot, as it shows Sarah Connor being taken to the hospital (or an asylum) and how the Cyberdyne Systems co. came into possession of the microchip that is ultimately used to give life to Terminators,” one person wrote, with another adding, “This scene is epic! Wish it was in the theatrical cut as it shows that Sarah and Kyle were the ones who made Skynet a reality. They are responsible or the nightmare they want to end.”

Earlier this summer, Cameron spoke about the rise of AI in modern times saying that he had a feeling it would eventually become a problem for humanity.

“I warned you guys in 1984, and you didn’t listen,” he told CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos about the looming threats of AI.

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Cameron was quick to add that he didn’t think AI will lead to our demise anytime soon, but said the “weaponization” of technology poses grave danger to human existence.

“You got to follow the money,” he said. “Who’s building these things? They’re either building it to dominate marketing shares, so you’re teaching it greed, or you’re building it for defensive purposes, so you’re teaching it paranoia. I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger.”

In a 2019 interview with Postmedia, Cameron predicted a “never-ending conflict between humans and artificial intelligence … will take place.”

“Whether that’s a smooth transition or whether that’s a rocky one or whether there’s an apocalypse, remains to be seen but I don’t think people are taking it as seriously as they should,” he said. “If you talk to any AI researcher, they all say it’s pretty inevitable that they’ll be able to develop an artificial intelligence equal to ours or even greater. And I don’t think that there’s enough adult supervision for what they’re doing. That’s speaking as a science-fiction writer, that’s speaking as a filmmaker and that’s speaking as a father of five. This is a potential existential threat.”

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Meanwhile, at an event in June, Schwarzenegger said the future Cameron predicted in the movies has “become a reality.”

“Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go,” Schwarzenegger said about AI [per PEOPLE]. “And in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over… 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.”

[email protected]

X: @markhdaniell

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Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd has finally revealed why James Cameron cut a key scene from his landmark 1984 science-fiction movie that tied more closely to the film’s future sequels.

Article content

Hurd took to X this week to share the scene in question, which showed how two employees from Cyberdyne Systems, the tech company that eventually created the dangerous AI known as Skynet, found the computer chip that powered the deadly Terminator killing machines.

Article content

The writer-producer then revealed that the James Cameron, who wrote and directed the film, cut the sequence due to bad acting.

“#TheTerminator financier John Daly’s #HemdaleFilms had an output deal with #OrionPictures but hadn’t yet made a hit (that changed with our film and #Platoon),” Hurd, who was married to Cameron for four years, wrote. “They insisted we use financier friends not actors in this scene, which ruined it for us.”

Hurd went on to add that Daly wanted his friends in the film because “the financiers were promised a return on their investment and had yet to receive one.”

Article content

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“Was it the acting or the forced use of non-actors? They seem fine I guess performance wise for that brief scene,” one fan pointedly asked Hurd on X.

Article content

“Jim (thankfully) was never satisfied with ‘just OK’, even back then!” Hurd replied.

In The Terminator, Cameron cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as a cyborg assassin who is sent back in time to kill the mother of the human resistance warrior who, in the future, leads an uprising against a sentient machine guided by AI.

The deleted scene, which has racked up over 130,000 views on YouTube, hinted at how that dangerous new tech was given birth.

Article content

In the comments, many fans of the 1984 sleeper hit weighed in on the cut sequence, saying it should have stayed in the finished product.

“It explains a lot, as it shows Sarah Connor being taken to the hospital (or an asylum) and how the Cyberdyne Systems co. came into possession of the microchip that is ultimately used to give life to Terminators,” one person wrote, with another adding, “This scene is epic! Wish it was in the theatrical cut as it shows that Sarah and Kyle were the ones who made Skynet a reality. They are responsible or the nightmare they want to end.”

Earlier this summer, Cameron spoke about the rise of AI in modern times saying that he had a feeling it would eventually become a problem for humanity.

“I warned you guys in 1984, and you didn’t listen,” he told CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos about the looming threats of AI.

Article content

Cameron was quick to add that he didn’t think AI will lead to our demise anytime soon, but said the “weaponization” of technology poses grave danger to human existence.

“You got to follow the money,” he said. “Who’s building these things? They’re either building it to dominate marketing shares, so you’re teaching it greed, or you’re building it for defensive purposes, so you’re teaching it paranoia. I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger.”

In a 2019 interview with Postmedia, Cameron predicted a “never-ending conflict between humans and artificial intelligence … will take place.”

“Whether that’s a smooth transition or whether that’s a rocky one or whether there’s an apocalypse, remains to be seen but I don’t think people are taking it as seriously as they should,” he said. “If you talk to any AI researcher, they all say it’s pretty inevitable that they’ll be able to develop an artificial intelligence equal to ours or even greater. And I don’t think that there’s enough adult supervision for what they’re doing. That’s speaking as a science-fiction writer, that’s speaking as a filmmaker and that’s speaking as a father of five. This is a potential existential threat.”

Article content

Meanwhile, at an event in June, Schwarzenegger said the future Cameron predicted in the movies has “become a reality.”

“Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go,” Schwarzenegger said about AI [per PEOPLE]. “And in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over… 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.”

[email protected]

X: @markhdaniell

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