Did James Cameron want OJ Simpson as The Terminator? Avatar director clarifies viral myth
Can you imagine OJ Simpson as an assassin in a movie? That was a possibility back in 1984 when James Cameron was looking for actors for his groundbreaking movie, The Terminator. Arnold Schwarzenegger won the role, but he was the one that ignited the rumor back in 2019.
"Somehow [James Cameron] felt that he [OJ Simpson] was not as believable for a killing machine,” Schwarzenegger said at the time. “So then they hired me. That’s really what happened.”
However, Cameron has always denied the rumors and he has again said that he never considered Simpson back then. The legendary director said in a recent episode of Chris Wallace’s HBO Max talk show Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace that the idea was posted to him, but he quickly rejected it.
"Very early on, a highly placed person [later noted to be Mike Medavoy] at one of the two studios that funded that film had a brilliant idea and called me up and said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ I said, ‘Well, no, I’m not.’ He said, ‘Are you sitting? OJ Simpson for the Terminator!’ I said, ‘I actually think that’s a bad idea.’ It didn’t go anywhere.”
If Cameron never looked at Simpson as the face of an assassin, he was right at the time. But maybe, just maybe, he was wrong at predicting the future. Like we've all been doing for the last thirty years, all we can do is speculate.
What happened to OJ Simpson?
OJ Simpson was one of the best running backs the NFL has ever seen, spending 11 years in the league between the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers. But his career was tarnished by some post-football incidents.
He was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman and the trial was highly publicized. There was also a car chase involving him at the same time as the NBA Finals back in 1994; 95 million people watched the Bronco chase live.
He was later acquitted of the deaths but had to pay a massive amount of money to the victim's families. He also spent nine years in prison, from 2008 to 2017, for an armed robbery he committed in Las Vegas. That trial was also highly publicized because of his history with the law.
Although Simpson is clear today - he's even active on social media. He's most remembered for his off-field actions than for his excellent play on the field.