10 Unexpected Inspirations Behind Movie Scenes
2. The Climax Was James Cameron's Literal Nightmare - The Terminator
Is there a single image more associated with The Terminator franchise than the T-800's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) terrifying endoskeleton as it emerges from the fiery wreckage of a truck and continues to pursue Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn)?
It was in fact the very first image that writer-director James Cameron came up with for the movie, yet it wasn't a lightbulb moment during a creative brainstorm, but rather an involuntary image conjured during a fever dream.
In a recent interview, Cameron confirmed that he came up with the T-800 design while horribly sick with a fever in Italy:
"The Terminator came from a dream that I had while I was sick with a fever in a cheap pensione in Rome in 1981. It was the image of a chrome skeleton emerging from a fire. When I woke up, I began sketching on the hotel stationery."
And much as Cameron might've dreaded the fever at the time, it ultimately ended up laying the groundwork for the rest of his career, setting in motion the Terminator franchise and every blockbuster gig he scored off the back of it.
Had Cameron not suffered through this fever dream, who knows where he'd be right now.