20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About The Terminator Franchise

19. Lance Henriksen Helped Finance The Terminator By Turning Up To A Studio Meeting As The T-800

There have been rumours that Lance Henriksen was at one point considered to play The Terminator, but this was apparently never the case. It may be that the rumours came about because Henriksen, James Cameron's friend, once attended a meeting with studio execs dressed up as the Terminator for Cameron. The story goes that Cameron, wanting to finalise a deal to get The Terminator financed, asked Henriksen to turn up to the meeting 15 minutes early, in character as the T-800. Henriksen, wearing leather jacket, bloody makeup and gold foil on his teeth, kicked open the meeting room door and sat down silently opposite the producers. Cameron then arrived and pitched the movie to the execs - who agreed to make the film - as Henriksen left. With a condition from one of the producers, who remarked, "I don't care who you use for the Terminator, not him."