James Cameron came up with the idea for this film while he was in Rome during the post-production of his previous film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982). Since he had been fired from that production, he bought a plane ticket with his last money in the hope of at least being involved in the editing process. He could not afford to eat properly, grew increasingly ill, and one night went to bed with a high fever. He had a nightmare of a metal endoskeleton emerging from flames, dragging itself along the ground while holding kitchen knives. When he woke up, he immediately drew this vision. Much of the script was written backward from there: the endoskeleton had to come from the future, but since Cameron did not have the budget to set the film in the future, the solution was to bring the future to the present; that is why the element of 'time travel' was added to the script. When special effects artist Stan Winston joined the project, he added several more designs for the endoskeleton, but in the end the design Cameron had first drawn was used.
James Cameron's original story idea was much more detailed and involved Skynet sending two Terminators back in time: the first was a cyborg who would in turn be defeated by a human sent back in time as well (the Resistance had actually sent two men, but one would die during time travel). In response, Skynet would send a second Terminator made of shape-shifting liquid metal (reluctantly, because it was so experimental that it could change the past beyond Skynet's intentions). Cameron briefly considered bringing this shape-shifter to life with clay animation in dark scenes, but he realized the concept was too ambitious to achieve with the techniques of the time. He also knew that his reputation at the time would not be enough to sell a story of this scope to a studio, so he used only the first half. When a fully computer-generated special effect succeeded in Cameron's The Abyss (1989), he revived the idea of the liquid Terminator for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
The start of production was delayed by nine months because of Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to Conan the Destroyer (1984). During this time, James Cameron wanted to work but did not have enough time to make an entire film. He had a meeting with some producers at 20th Century Fox, those who liked his THE TERMINATOR script, and they gave him a writing assignment; that became Aliens (1986). The same day, he was also asked to write a script for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). While taking on these two assignments, he also did additional work on the Terminator script, and to keep the projects separate, he wrote each script at a different desk every night. He calculated the number of pages he needed to write each night by dividing the total page count by the number of waking hours per night. He said he managed this by drinking plenty of coffee; he gave up this habit after Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) was completed.
The first draft of the film was sold to James Cameron's production partner and former colleague at New World Pictures, Gale Anne Hurd, for just 1 dollar. This symbolic gesture came with a 'blood oath': Hurd had to promise to do everything in her power to make the film, but only on the condition that Cameron remain as director. She kept her word and turned down every studio that showed interest but wanted to replace Cameron. Cameron and Hurd began a romantic relationship during the making of this film, made Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989) together, and were married from 1985 to 1989 (they had separated by the time they made The Abyss).
In James Cameron's original draft, Sarah Connor had an old ice-skating injury that had been repaired with several surgical pins; the Terminator cut open the legs of the first two Sarah Connors to find these identifying marks. In the novelization of the story, however, the pins are inserted after her leg is broken during her final battle against the Terminator. Skynet knew that Sarah had surgical pins in her leg, but did not know when or why she had gotten them. For this reason, the Terminator was looking for the mark of an injury that had not yet occurred.
According to a 2008 interview with Lance Henriksen, James Cameron did not have an agency, and while writing the script for the film he was either living in his car or sleeping on a friend's couch. Cameron had in fact fired his agency because he did not like the story idea he had designed for this film.
Two deleted scenes provided more background on Skynet and the Future War. The first is the scene in which Sarah finds Cyberdyne Systems, that is, discovers the company that will build Skynet and the Terminators. She tries to convince Reese that they must destroy its buildings to prevent the dark future from happening, but Reese tells her that his mission is to protect the future, not to change it. The second scene shows that Cyberdyne owned the factory where Sarah fought the Terminator, and that one of its employees found the Terminator's microchip, which in fact caused Skynet to exist. These scenes were actually part of a larger subplot in which Sarah and Kyle ultimately agreed to blow up Cyberdyne; that is why they were making a bomb at the beginning; their entering the Cyberdyne factory while fleeing the Terminator was not entirely a coincidence, they had set out deliberately to destroy it (this subplot appeared in the novelization). Skynet's origin and the destruction of Cyberdyne instead became the main plot in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Director James Cameron cut the scenes because he wanted to leave some questions unanswered, and he never regretted it, since he was able to make an entire sequel out of the unused ideas.
Writer Harlan Ellison sued James Cameron, claiming that while he greatly enjoyed the film, its story was plagiarized from the episodes Soldier (1964) and Demon with a Glass Hand (1964), which he had written for The Outer Limits (1963). The concept of 'Skynet' may also have been taken from Ellison's short story 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream'. The lawsuit was settled out of court, and new editions of the film included a credit to Ellison. Cameron claimed that the settlement was forced on him by producers who refused to back him. He believed Ellison was making baseless and opportunistic claims, and he wanted the case to go to trial. However, the insurance company told him that if he lost the case, he would be held personally liable for the financial damages. Since money was tight for Cameron at the time, he could not take the risk and had no choice but to accept the settlement; he has always resented this.
Arnold Schwarzenegger said, 'The Terminator was a small film. We constantly had to cut costs. We shot it very quickly. We thought we had a good story and that it would be successful. But we thought it would only appeal to a certain audience. No one predicted that it would be among Time magazine's ten best films of the year and be so successful at the box office, or that people would demand a sequel that would become the highest-grossing film of that year.'
The production company Hemdale quickly became involved in co-financing the film because director James Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd had found Orion Pictures, which was willing to provide part of the budget and distribute the film. However, the relationship between Cameron and executive producer/Hemdale president John Daly deteriorated during post-production. According to Cameron, Daly and Orion executive Mike Medavoy (the person who suggested Arnold Schwarzenegger to Cameron) wanted the film to end right after the tanker explosion, cutting the climax in the robot factory and the epilogue. Cameron is quoted as saying: 'Daly said, "The film should end right after the tanker explosion." And I told him, "Fuck you! The film isn't finished yet."' Daly eventually backed down, and this decision led to the film's sudden success. However, Orion Pictures wanted to be known for its quality films (such as Amadeus (1984) and Platoon (1986)) and saw this film as a low-budget science fiction vehicle to make some quick money. In Cameron's eyes, advertising support for the film was minimal. Three weeks after the film was released, Medavoy was still ignoring Cameron's request to strengthen the advertising campaign: 'They told me that when you have a dirty action thriller, the film can last about three weeks at the box office. They're treating the film like a dog!' Hemdale eventually raised money for more advertising when positive word-of-mouth from critics reached the studio. Schwarzenegger is said to still hold a grudge against Orion Pictures for its lack of support.
The film was released in Poland in the late 1980s under the title 'Electronic Killer'. The name was changed because in Polish the word 'terminator' roughly means 'apprentice', and so the title was replaced with something more memorable and interesting for the audience. When Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) was released, the original film was widely available in pirated copies under its original title, and therefore in the early 1990s in Poland the word 'terminator' became widely known as the character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger rather than its original meaning; that is why the titles of all the sequels were not changed.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was seen as so indispensable to the film that when he first went off to make Conan the Destroyer (1984), they were prepared to wait for him rather than cast someone else in the meantime.
James Cameron's original draft included the detail that the Terminator must periodically eat to keep its human flesh alive. There was a scene in which the Terminator eats a candy bar with its wrapper on. This detail was included in the script for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003); the Terminator chooses Manner brand Neapolitan wafers, Arnold Schwarzenegger's favorite Austrian wafer. When fans learned that a scene of the Terminator eating candy had been shot, the reaction was overwhelmingly negative and the scene was cut.
Paramount was one of the studios that wanted to make this film, but they stipulated that James Cameron could not direct on the grounds that he had not yet proven his talent with a successful film. Cameron rejected their offer because at the time he saw this project as his baby and wanted to direct the film himself. Paramount later became the main studio of the fifth film in the series, Terminator Genisys (2015) (not directed by James Cameron).
There was minimal interference from Orion Pictures, the film's financial backer and distributor, partly thanks to the budget provided (and Hemdale Pictures contributing part of it). However, they suggested two things. First, a cyborg dog accompanying Reese - an idea rejected by James Cameron. Second, strengthening the relationship between Kyle and Sarah, which Cameron accepted. Producer Gale Anne Hurd later said that Orion also insisted that two of its friends play small roles in a scene that was later deleted.
James Cameron saw no money from the sequels to the series he was not involved in: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009) and Terminator Genisys (2015). Before making THE TERMINATOR, he had fired his agency, which never believed in the project, and had chosen to represent himself ever since. He sold the rights to the first film with an attempt to (successfully) retain control of it, but this also meant that those rights wandered from studio to studio over the following thirty years. Due to changes in copyright law, they returned to him 35 years later, in 2019, but in the meantime he received no royalties from any of the films made. He calls this lost income the 'cost of his Hollywood education'.
In the original script, the Terminator was supposed to steal a car at the beginning of the film. The Terminator observes an old woman getting into the car; the woman panics when she sees the Terminator, puts the car in reverse, hits a trash can, shifts into drive and finally speeds away. The Terminator then gets into the car and imitates her reverse-gear mistake. This was removed from a later draft of the script.
The screenplay is officially credited to James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, with additional dialogue by William Wisher. In reality, Cameron and Wisher were the main contributors: Wisher wrote the dialogue for the early Sarah Connor scenes and the police station sequences, while Cameron focused on the rest. They informed each other daily by phone about their progress. Hurd's role was mainly to edit the script; she put her name on it to facilitate its sale, but ultimately received full writing credit for this film and several Terminator-related projects despite doing no writing work. Cameron said he was somewhat disappointed that Hurd never corrected the record, but what bothered him even more was that people automatically assumed that making the main character a woman was Hurd's idea, when in fact it was his.
Although this film is often remembered for breaking new ground by introducing a female action star, James Cameron has repeatedly stated that he had no intention of making a feminist statement. He made the lead a woman simply because he wanted to be original, and he noted that this had not been done before in an action film.
According to the original draft (available in the DVD version), two protectors were to be sent back to save Sarah Connor. However, Kyle Reese's partner, a man named Sumner, would have received very little screen time because he rematerializes inside a fire escape and dies instantly. It is interesting to note that this contradicts the Temporal Displacement Field logic of the sequel (matter in an egg-shaped field is replaced by its future counterpart).
The idea of blowing up Cyberdyne Systems and thus preventing the war was actually conceived in the first film. However, due to time constraints this scene was cut and became a significant factor in the sequel. While Kyle explains to Sarah that such an action is not part of his mission and is tactically dangerous, the two are in the countryside; Kyle realizes that he comes from a time when such beauty has been destroyed and no longer exists, which causes him to have an emotional breakdown and he explains that he was not made to see this, saying 'it's all gone'. This thought is repeated by Sarah in the sequel during her mental health evaluation, while watching video of her past behavior with Dr. Silberman: 'He, you, this place, everything you see is gone.'
The film was conceived not as a science fiction action film but as a dark horror film. However, many moviegoers perceived it as an action film when they first saw it in theaters. James Cameron was so surprised that he decided to make action films from then on. Months before the release date, Cameron had not expected the film to achieve any success at the box office or with critics. Ironically, it is now considered one of the best films of all time.
According to an article in Hot Dog #10, April 2001, studio executives threatened to shut down the project if James Cameron shot additional future war scenes beyond the script.
The original script included a scene explaining the pseudoscience behind time travel. Second unit director Jean-Paul Ouellette attended a dinner with his father, a government physicist working at Los Alamos, and a dozen colleagues, and discussed the scene with them. The experts were not enthusiastic about the made-up science, and all parties agreed that the film would be stronger if the science were not specified. Ouellette passed this advice on to James Cameron, and Cameron cut the scene in question.
The script was lean, sharp and full of guns; this quickly became a problem for a Canadian director exploring foreign ground. James Cameron said, 'I didn't know anything about guns. Then I thought, 'This is America, I can go and buy them!''
In 2008, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry, having been deemed 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'.
On its initial release, it stayed at number one at the US box office for two weeks. In its third week, it was dethroned by Oh, God! You Devil (1984).
James Cameron first approached Rob Bottin, but Bottin had been offered John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) and could not do both films. Cameron then turned to another effects legend, Dick Smith. Smith decided the project was not right for him but made a suggestion: 'Stan makes good robots.' Stan Winston was in the midst of a robot-design frenzy with the Tin Man in The Wiz (1978) and the robot makeups in Heartbeeps (1981), which led to both an Academy Award nomination and the design of 'Mr. Roboto' for the rock band Styx. When Cameron finally asked Stan to join The Terminator (1984), the project led to a professional partnership and friendship that would last 25 years.
Leading makeup designer Dick Smith turned down James Cameron's invitation to work on the film because he did not think he could do cyborg makeup. He recommended his friend Stan Winston, who had been nominated for an Oscar for his robot work on Heartbeeps (1981); Cameron reluctantly agreed. Fortunately, Winston was not bothered that Cameron had done most of the design work himself. In fact, his work on the film's practical special effects turned out so well that they became personal friends. They later founded the special effects company Digital Domain together and collaborated on Aliens (1986), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996).
At 107 minutes, it is the shortest film in the Terminator film series.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron became close friends during the making of the film and collaborated again on Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and True Lies (1994).
The original theatrical release ended with mushroom clouds in the distance. Later versions ended with Sarah Connor walking away.
James Cameron said, 'Ironically, my first film was my best-prepared film, which is probably why I got the chance to direct again, because we stayed reasonably close to our schedule - that never happened to me again.'
The writers acknowledged that the rule that 'no dead thing can pass' (that is, only things surrounded by living tissue can travel back in time) has no scientific basis and was designed entirely as a Plot Protection Device, since otherwise Reese could have brought a BFG or something similar with him, killed the Terminator and the film would have ended in five minutes. In the fourth sequel, Terminator Genisys (2015), it was retroactively explained that any exposed metal would cause a disastrous reaction because it would overheat during the Time Displacement process, as in a microwave oven.
It was Arnold Schwarzenegger's first horror film. Schwarzenegger's other horror films were Predator (1987), End of Days (1999) and Maggie (2015).
The production lacked financial resources as well as pre-production time - eight months, while the team waited for Arnold Schwarzenegger's schedule to clear. James Cameron recalled, 'I thought we didn't have the money for a designer and I can draw, so what's the problem. I drew everything and storyboarded the film very meticulously.'
THE TERMINATOR was the film that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star, a household name in Hollywood and a legend. After his highly successful bodybuilding career, he came to the United States, and many said he would never succeed as an actor because of his large build and heavy accent.
James Cameron cites The Outer Limits (1963) and The Driver (1978) as influences on his screenplay.
British musician Tony Banks, the keyboardist of the rock band Genesis, was considered to score the film and the script was sent to him, but he was busy with the music for Lorca and the Outlaws (1984) (aka Redwing).
In the writer's backstory about Sarah's father: Sarah's father was a war veteran and had left Sarah and her mother.
James Cameron, together with producer/co-writer Gale Anne Hurd, insists on O.J. Simpson for the lead role when Orion president Mike Medavoy first suggests him. Although Medavoy has since downplayed this pre-production anecdote, even Arnold Schwarzenegger remembers that Medavoy was so serious about Simpson that at an industry screening for Blue Thunder (1983) he offered Schwarzenegger the role of the 'brave soldier from the future, the good guy', which was ultimately played by Michael Biehn: 'Medavoy told me the Terminator had already been played by O.J. Simpson.'
It was included in the list of '1001 Films You Must See Before You Die', edited by Steven Schneider.