Casting Near-Misses: Sting in 'The Terminator'?
It's hard to think of James Cameron's The Terminator starring anyone other than Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the killer cyborg from the future. But what if Sting was the one traveling back to the '80s to prevent the machines from taking over? Or Bruce Springsteen on the run with Rosanna Arquette? Or Mickey Rourke? A comprehensive new book about the hugely successful franchise, Terminator Vault, reveals some interesting casting choices revealed in memos and other documents from the capricious pre-production process...
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Back in January of 1983, an offer of $350,000 went out to Sting to take on the role of Kyle Reese, but the Police frontman was not able to accommodate with a world tour coming that June as well as a May 13th commitment to star in Dune (and the world would definitely not want to miss seeing him in that spiky red hair and ridiculous futuristic Speedo, right?).
Yet to break out into major stardom with Desperately Seeking Susan opposite Madonna, Rosanna Arquette was keen to star in Terminator as Sarah Connor after the idea was pitched to her in an elevator, but her agent's $250,000 salary request was shot down and an agreement couldn't be reached. Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Sue Anderson was considered "young, eager" and "seems right" for the part, but that did not work out either, nor did it for Jessica Harper or Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Other stars considered for the role of Reese included Christopher Reeve (who had a $1 million price tag, but ultimately passed on the project), Mel Gibson, Matt Dillon, Kurt Russell, Treat Williams, Tommy Lee Jones, Scott Glenn, Michael O'Keefe, and even Bruce Springsteen, in what would have been his big-screen debut. But agents thought the film's schedule would conflict with The Boss's tour rehearsal and thought his answer "would be negative."
With none of the hot names in Hollywood thrown around able to be roped in for various reasons, then-unknowns Hamilton and Biehn were cast opposite Schwarzenegger, the biggest name of the cast following his box office success as Conan the Barbarian. A big "Conan freak," Cameron always wanted the Austrian bodybuilder to play his relentless killing machine character, but another, bigger name at the time had also been bandied about by agents as the action project was being put together: O.J. Simpson.
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Terminator Vault: The Complete Story Behind the Making of The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day from Voyageur Press, with a foreward by Arnold himself, is available now.