Arnold Schwarzenegger Says He Almost Passed On Iconic Role That Launched His Career

Arnold Schwarzenegger nearly passed on one of his most iconic roles and, honestly, cinema history would've been very different if he had.

Pretty much everyone knows the icon that is Arnold Schwarzenegger, from blockbusters to politics, the man's done it all.

However, in a recently resurfaced video, the action star reveals how he almost passed on one of his most iconic films.

Speaking to journalist Graham Bensinger, the action man recounted an in-depth discussion he had over lunch with James Cameron, where he nearly passed on the role of a lifetime.

It turns out that Schwarzenegger was not always up for playing what would become his iconic Terminator role, instead, he was up for the part of human resistance fighter Kyle Reese.

However, during his chat with Cameron, Schwarzenegger's passion for the yet-to-be cast role started to peer through.

"I told James Cameron, there's this one thing you've got to make sure of, whoever plays Terminator, and I heard it's OJ Simpson, I said, whoever plays [the role] you've got to train them to be a machine. Not act like a machine – to be a machine."

Being an excellent director and seeing a spark in Schwarzenegger's eye, Cameron poked him a little more, asking what the actor meant.

Schwarzenegger explained that he thought whoever played the role needed to have an automatic way of handling weapons. Sound like anyone we know?

Going on to elaborate, Schwarzenegger said that rather than have the chosen actor look down to reload a gun, it should be effortless, so much so that they could do it blindfolded – like a machine.

He went on to say the same about riding a motorcycle and continued to talk about the role as if he were 'an expert'.

At the end of the lunch, Cameron said: "First of all I totally agree with what you say but I have to say one thing: there's no one who will understand the Terminator better than you. Therefore, I think we're all in agreement that you should play the Terminator."

It's hard to imagine someone not being completely on board with Cameron here, but it turned out Schwarzenegger wasn't sold.

The said to Cameron: "Excuse me, but I don't want to regress in my career, because this guy only says like 27 lines."

However, Cameron persisted, telling the actor to 'trust' him, promising that he would 'not only make [Schwarzenegger] the number one villain they've ever seen, but also the number one hero'.

Schwarzenegger still needed a few days to mull the decision over but ultimately decided to play the 'memorable' character.

And, true to word, Cameron delivered, so much so that the role became, arguably, Schwarzenegger's most iconic and best-loved performance.

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