10 Movie Special Effects Nobody Believed

8. The Mirror Trick - Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The Special Effect

Though it was sadly cut from T2's theatrical version, the scene in which Sarah (Linda Hamilton) and John Connor (Edward Furlong) remove the T-800's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) chip was thankfully restored for the film's Special Edition.

Because James Cameron can't do anything the easy way, he decided to shoot the scene in front of a mirror, and in order to prevent the camera from appearing in the mirror's reflection, he effectively had to stage the scene twice...at the same time.

To break the shot down - the back of Arnie's head is actually a dummy prop being worked on by Linda Hamilton, while the mirror is actually a window, behind which Arnold is sat.

And here's where things get truly, deliciously clever - to achieve the reflection of Sarah Connor, the actress' twin sister Leslie was hired, with both Hamiltons matching each other's movements precisely.

The end result is completely convincing, and Cameron also used Leslie again later in the movie when the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) assumes Sarah's form.

Why Nobody Believed It

Like The Lord of the Rings' perspective trick, this is way too creative and clever for any typical audience member to figure it out.

Even though CGI was in its infancy in 1991 - and also 1993, when the Special Edition was released - it was certainly easier to assume that Cameron had super-imposed a VFX plate over the mirror rather than Linda Hamilton having a secret twin nobody knew about.

Cameron has gone into great detail about the scene on T2's various home video releases, and understandably relishes revealing the jaw-dropping nature of the effect to his fans. Can you blame him?