10 Movie Casting Choices That Were Total Misdirection

7. Arnold Schwarzenegger - Terminator 2: Judgment Day

What Everyone Expected

Tough though this might be to believe nowadays, back when Terminator 2 was awaiting release, James Cameron made pains to keep a firm lid on the precise nature of the cyborg characters played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Patrick.

In fact, a sinister early teaser trailer for T2 quite brilliantly played off of Schwarzenegger's terrifyingly villainous performance in the original Terminator, implying that the sequel would see another T-800, again played by Arnie, sent back through time to stamp out the human resistance.

And though the film's final trailer did let the cat out of the bag regarding Arnie's actual role, back in 1991 it was far easier to miss these things.

As such, many fans saw the movie for the first time assuming that Schwarzenegger was the villainous T-800 and Robert Patrick was the hero cop sent to protect John Connor (Edward Furlong) from the machines.

What We Got

Of course, T2's great twist is that Arnie is playing a benevolent T-800 this time, while Patrick is actually the advanced T-1000 Terminator sent back through time to murder John.

It's fair to say that had T2 been released today, its big conceit would've been ruined for everyone during production, yet pre-Internet it was far easier to keep spoilers under control, and only in the film's final marketing push was the big reveal given away.

When Arnie's casting in the movie was first announced, though, surely nobody could've ever expected in what capacity, or the subsequent glut of nostalgia-fuelled sequels it would lead to.