The Sequel That Almost Never Happened
James Cameron battled rights holders, a rushed rewrite, and an airplane salary to get Terminator 2 made.
Actress Linda Hamilton at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan. Photographed by Luigi Novi. This photo may only be used if the photographer is properly credited. (See Licensing information below.) — Nightscream, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Where to watch Terminator 2: Judgment Day ↓Reluctant and Blocked
Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to keep running immediately after the first film, while James Cameron thought The Terminator was a complete story and was less enthusiastic about a sequel. That mismatch was only the start. A years-long standoff with rights holder Hemdale Film Corporation kept the project frozen, fueled in part by Hemdale co-founder John Daly who had once tried to alter The Terminator's ending against Cameron's wishes, an interference that nearly led to a physical confrontation.
Cameron had already given away 50 percent of his rights to Hemdale just to get the original made, and after his 1989 divorce he sold half of his remaining stake to ex-wife Gale Anne Hurd for $1. When Carolco Pictures finally stepped in, it spent $17 million just to acquire the rights and lock the necessary deals before development could even start, a sum its owner called the most difficult deal Carolco had ever conducted.
Six Weeks to Reinvent the Future
With the legal mess cleared, Cameron had only six to seven weeks to write the follow-up. He quickly ruled out a mirror match of two identical Schwarzenegger Terminators as boring, and instead imagined a liquid-metal hunter, the T-1000.
The film's emotional core came from an unlikely place. John Connor was shaped by the 1985 Sting song 'Russians', with Cameron crediting the line 'I hope the Russians love their children too' as the genesis for the character. Even the film's most quoted line had a casual origin, 'Hasta la vista, baby' began as something William Wisher and Cameron said to each other after their telephone calls.
Photo portrait of Schwarzenegger as Governor — State of California, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Paying in Planes and Pain
The price tag extended to the cast. Carolco could not easily cash out Schwarzenegger's $12-15 million salary, so it paid most of it with a financed $12.75 million Gulfstream III jet rather than cash to ease the financial burden.
Linda Hamilton rebuilt Sarah Connor from the ground up, training three hours a day, six days a week, and taking judo and military training. The regimen was brutalized further by motherhood, she averaged only four hours of sleep per day during filming while caring for her infant son.
Edward Furlong at London Film Con in 2009 — CelebHeights.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Man in the Car
Robert Patrick arrived at the T-1000 role from a precarious place, he was living in his car when he was cast. He stripped the performance down to animal stillness, basing his character's facial expressions on an eagle and drawing inspiration from observing hunting creatures like reptiles, insects, and sharks.
What emerged was a sequel born from reluctance, legal warfare, and sheer exhaustion, yet it still redefined what a blockbuster could look like.
Terminator-2 movie location — KUZNETSOV, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.