Arnold Schwarzenegger truly struck gold when he decided to reprise his role as T-800, the invincible cyborg assassin. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acting career has not been without challenges, from having his favorite film of all time banned for scaring children to getting passed over for roles owing to his thick accent. Despite the frustrations and missed opportunities, the actor has had an abundance of good fortune. When he agreed to reprise his role as the invincible cyborg assassin T-800 in the popular science fiction franchise The Terminator, the former Mr. Universe hit gold.
Schwarzenegger received a whopping $15 million for the role, despite having just 700 words of speech, in one of the most impressive financial exploits of his career, only surpassed by his ludicrous $25 million salary in the 1997 disaster, Batman and Robin. Here’s how the action star was able to command such a large salary for such little conversation. Arnold Schwarzenegger has played T-800 in The Terminator franchise for decades, first landing the character in 1983, barely a year after his breakthrough in the sword and sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian. Despite his obvious talent for playing the title character, Schwarzenegger almost stumbled into the part.
The now 75-year-old actor was initially interested in playing human resistance fighter Kyle Reese. However, after reading the script, Schwarzenegger “got fixated on the Terminator” and began an exhaustive character study. The acclaimed action star’s examination of the character was so rigorous that director James Cameron ended up offering him the job instead. “He’s an automaton. In an October 2019 interview with Men’s Health, Schwarzenegger recalled instructing the filmmaker, “Everything has to be matter-of-fact.
” “I said there should be no joy, gratification, or any kind of victory lap.” Only the mission was completed. I go through these points. After that, [James Cameron] says to me, ‘F**k, you analyze it better than I did. ‘Why don’t you take on the role of the Terminator?'” Even more unexpected is that Schwarzenegger initially turned down the role due to the Terminator’s minimal vocabulary (27 lines). However, after some convincing, the action star consented to play the part. Schwarzenegger had to make a financial sacrifice for his first appearance as the Terminator, earning only $75,000 for his efforts.
The sequel would take an unexpected turn, owing to the success of the original picture, which tenfolded its $6.4 million budget at the box office and gained worldwide critical acclaim. Schwarzenegger received a whopping $15 million for his second metamorphosis into T-800, despite having just 700 words of dialogue. To put it in context, the classic line “Hasta la vista, baby” paid the now 75-year-old action actor an incredible $85,716. Fortunately, the $15 million payday proved to be money well spent, as the picture was an even bigger hit than its predecessor, grossing a whopping $519 million at the box office and becoming the top grossing film of 1991.
During a Men’s Health interview in 2019, Schwarzenegger explained why the film drew such a large audience. “People admired the character because he was able to do things that everyone wanted to do,” he explained. “When people are angry at the police, they all want to destroy a police station.” We had a screening exam. We presented it to 50 police officers. They all celebrated when I wiped out the police station because it wasn’t a human doing it, but a machine.”
The film also fared well critically, with critics almost adoring Schwarzenegger’s portrayal of the malevolent cyborg, T-800. “Schwarzenegger’s genius as a movie star is to find roles that build on, rather than undermine, his physical and vocal characteristics,” noted Roger Ebert, a renowned film critic. “Here, he becomes the straight man in a human drama – and a human comedy, too, as the kid tells him to lighten up and stop talking like a computer.” Arnold Schwarzenegger proceeded to repeat his role in successive Terminator films, with the exception of Terminator Salvation, which was released during his second stint as governor of California. Apart from cementing his image as an action legend, the high-octane franchise also contributed significantly to Schwarzenegger’s present net worth of $450 million.
For the third installment of the franchise, the now 75-year-old received a salary of $30 million, plus an additional $5 million from box office receipts. Though his pay for the most current iterations are unknown, it is plausible to infer that he earned significantly more than the first $75,000. Despite the fact that it proved to be a gold mine, Schwarzenegger has stated that he will not appear in future Terminator films. “The franchise is not finished.
” “I’m done,” he recently told The Hollywood Reporter. “I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different Terminator theme.” Someone must come up with a brilliant idea. Because the Terminator was primarily responsible for my achievement, I held it in high regard. The first three films were fantastic. I was not in number four [Salvation] because I was governor. Then five [Genisys] and six [Dark Fate] didn’t seal the deal in my opinion. We were aware of this ahead of time because they were simply poorly written.”