Did You Know?

The original script did not call for the top of the truck to be ripped off during the chase through the storm drain beside/beneath the freeway, but when they arrived on location they found that the cab wouldn't fit under the overpass so director James Cameron decided that the roof was going to have to come off.

SFX crew had to incorporate Robert Patrick's football-injury limp in their animation of the T1000. Next, they filmed the stuff with the T1000 pretending to be driving from the right-hand steering wheel (wearing a mirror-image police uniform), while the real driver was hidden under a black hood at the lowered real steering wheel. For the final film, the scenes were flipped left-to-right to make it all look right, and combined with footage shot with a normal truck driving in the drain. This was done so that Patrick could concentrate on acting rather than driving. They accidentally caught a street sign; after they mirror-imaged the scene, they digitally reversed the text on the sign so it would appear correct.

Charlie Korsmo was offered the role of John Connor, but he could not accept the role due to obligations to What About Bob?.

Most of Edward Furlong's voice had to be re-dubbed by Furlong again in post-production because it changed during shooting. His young voice is left intact only in the scene where he and Terminator are talking about why people cry, because James Cameron wanted it to sound dramatic and thought it was better if left intact.

Linda Hamilton's twin sister, Leslie Hamilton Gearren was used as a double in scenes involving two "Sarah Connors" (i.e., when the T1000 was imitating her), and in a scene not in the theatrical release (but on the DVD) as a mirror image of Linda.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's young daughter screamed the first time she saw her father's face made-up to show the robotics appearing underneath the skin tissue.

Identical twins Don Stanton and Dan Stanton played the hospital security guard and the T1000.

Production took sufficiently long that Edward Furlong visibly aged during the shoot - he is clearly much younger in the desert, for instance, than in other scenes. His voice began to break and had to be pitched to one level in post-production.

The Terminator says "I need a vacation", which Arnold Schwarzenegger previously said in Kindergarten Cop. This was not in the script, but ad-libbed.

The badge on the T1000's uniform reads "Austin" (named after producer Stephanie Austin), although it is not fully visible in the film. Austin is also the name of Robert Patrick's daughter.

Out of all the time-traveling terminators in the series, the T-1000 is the only one that doesn't have any first-person "terminator vision" moments.

In the ATM scene, the PIN code that John Connor types into the laptop is 9003

A female passer-by actually wandered onto the biker bar set thinking it was real, despite walking past all the location trucks, cameras and lights. Seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger standing in the bar dressed only in boxer shorts, she wondered aloud what was going on, only for Schwarzenegger to reply that it was male stripper night.

Linda Hamilton learned to pick locks for the scene in the mental hospital where she does precisely that with a paperclip.

Due to the tight schedules, there were three editors involved - Mark Goldblatt, Conrad Buff IV and Richard A. Harris - who all worked on separate segments of the film.

Sound designer Gary Rydstrom added some lion roars to the sounds of the tanker truck that the T-1000 drives down the freeway to add some extra menace.

For Sarah's nightmare of the nuclear holocaust, some of the materials used in the miniature Los Angeles model that mimicked all the destroyed masonry were Matzos crackers and Shredded Wheat. After each take, it would take on average two days to set the model up to shoot again.

Local residents in Lakeview Terrace held a protest outside the Medical Center when it was dressed to be the Pescadero State Hospital for the Criminally Disordered. They quickly realized it was in fact only a film set.

Industrial Light and Magic's computer graphics department had to grow from six artists to almost 36 to accommodate all the work required to bring the T-1000 to life, costing $5.5 million and taking 8 months to produce, which ultimately amounted to 3.5 minutes of screen time.

The movie's line "Hasta la vista, baby." was voted as the #76 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

The Terminator's "point-of-view" scenes at the biker's bar identify a Harley Davidson "Fatboy", and a carcinogen in the cigar smoke.

Arnold Schwarzenegger said during the making of this film that he would never play another evil character again, but he later played the villain Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin.

The date of the fictional Judgment Day - 29 August 1997 - is the anniversary of the Soviet Union's first detonation of an atomic bomb in 1949.

The Minigun used in the Cyberdyne scene was so heavy that Arnold Schwarzenegger was in fact the only person on stage that could carry the gun. The movie's sound department had to slow down the sound of the gun firing to be able to hear separate shots.

The name of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator is the Terminator Series 800 (shiny metal endoskeleton) model 101 (Arnold's actual skin on that skeleton).

The address given in the movie for the Cyberdyne Building is 2144 Kramer Street. This is likely a reference to Joel Kramer, the stunt coordinator for the film.

Director James Cameron campaigned unsuccessfully for Linda Hamilton to be nominated an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Sarah Connor

Held the world record for highest opening-weekend gross of an R-rated film (with $52,306,548) until The Matrix Reloaded.

The liquid metal CGI effects of the T-1000 were rendered on a Silicon Graphics IRIS Indigo workstation.

When T-1000 is transforming and flowing like mercury, Rydstrom created its "metallic" sound by spraying Dust-Off into a mixture of flour and water, with a condom-sealed mic submerged in the goo.

The Terminator states that 'Skynet' goes on-line on August 4th 1997, and becomes self aware at 0214 EST on August 29th 1997.

Linda Hamilton's stunt double Maryellen Aviano can be seen as the woman next to the tourist photographer in the mall.

Director James Cameron fought over the ending with executive producer Mario Kassar. Cameron wanted to end the film with the alternate Coda Ending (the older Sarah in future) as a bookend, but Kassar wanted to end the film in an another way (as a measure for possible sequels). He eventually relented when test audiences and Kassar himself reacted negatively over the coda ending, and he went the existing one.

Even though Robert Patrick got weapon training under technical expert Uzi Gal, director James Cameron was so amazed by Patrick's performance, particularly for the T-1000 shooting scene at the Galleria mall, that he used the actual footage shot, without speeding up the frame rate.

The make-up artists mixed KY jelly into Arnold Schwarzenegger's make-up for the Terminator in "normal" mode to give him a slightly synthetic look.

The "forced medication" scene (Special Edition only) had to be re-shot several times because actor Ken Gibbel wouldn't hit Linda Hamilton properly with his nightstick. The scene was very physically demanding and Hamilton was furious with Gibbel because he repeatedly botched it. She got her revenge in a later scene where she beats Gibbel with a broken-off broom handle - the blows are for real.

John Connor's legal guardians (Todd and Janelle Voight) live at 19828 S. Almond Ave., Reseda, CA.

All the electrical cabling meant to light the five-mile section of freeway during the liquid nitrogen truck chase was stolen. Not having enough time to replace all of it, the company had to rent or borrow every wire connected to the lighting on the freeway. That lasted for 5 days.

James Cameron once owned a dog named "Wolfie", short for Beowulf.

The artificial substance used instead of melted steel (which would've been far too dangerous to use, sometimes impossible) actually needed to be kept pretty cool to maintain the right density. This meant that the temperature on set was really quite cold, so the actors had to be sprayed with fake sweat in between takes.

In order to create the sound of bullets striking T-1000, sound designer Gary Rydstrom slammed an inverted glass into a container of yogurt creating a combo sound of hard edge and goop.

According to sound supervisor Gloria S. Borders, approximately 70% of the dialog, and most of the breathing, is ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement/Dubbing). General rule of thumb: the more action in a movie, the more ADR and Foley processing.

Lead singer of heavy metal band WASP, Blackie Lawless, was considered for the role of the liquid-metal T-1000, although his height proved to be a problem. The role of the original Terminator had been written for a man of average stature, who could easily blend in to a crowd, and James Cameron wanted to apply that original concept to dramatic effect for the T-1000. In an AOL chat, Lawless explained: "Probably the biggest regret that I have, though I didn't turn it down, was a part in Terminator 2 that Robert Patrick got. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted me to do the part, but when he found out I was 6'4", I couldn't. I regret not being able to do that."

Footage from this movie was used in a 2008 DirecTV commercial.

When moving through a crowd, Robert Patrick patterned himself after a shark moving in on its prey.

After the release of The Abyss (featuring the infamous pseudo-pod scene), James Cameron felt he was ready to start working on this film. However, he knew that half of the film's rights was owned by Hemdale (producer of The Terminator) - ultimately went bankrupt - and the lack of funding prevented him from working. While working on Total Recall with Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, Arnold Schwarzenegger learned of Cameron's intention to work on the film and it was him who urged Kassar and Vajna to buy the rights from Hemdale. Finally, they bought it in February 1990 and Cameron would only start work the following month.

On the DVD, by highlighting "Sensory Control" and pressing the right navigation button five times until the words "The Future is Not Set" appear, then selecting the phrase, the menu will alter, offering the Theatrical Version of the film instead of the Special Edition for viewing.

The photos of the 1984 attack were still shots of a re-shoot. James Cameron had a hallway set built, dressed Arnold Schwarzenegger in his original Terminator outfit and had him recreate one take, from which they took the pictures. (Check out Arnold's hair and facial structure to spot the telltale signs.)

The first film to have a production budget of more than US$100 million dollars.

In the original script, the initial encounter between John and The T-1000 took place at an amusement park.

The mini-gun used in the film was the same mini-gun that was used in 1987's "Predator", also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

When the Terminator arrives at the mall to look for John, he is carrying a box of roses with a gun (rifle) inside. The theme song for the movie, "You Could Be Mine", is by Guns N' Roses.

Robert Patrick trained in a rigorous running regime in order to be able to appear to run at high speeds without showing fatigue on film.

Joel Kramer:  Stunt coordinator Joel Kramer appears as the guard in the hospital security room.

Van Ling:  The DVD producer and FX Coordinator appears as Dyson's assistant in the lab.

James Cameron:  [nice cut]  during the opening credits: the cut from the playing children to the dark future.

Filmed scenes not included in the theatrical release (but restored in the Special Edition): - Directly after the pre-med students peer into Sarah's room, the doctor reminds the orderlies to make sure she gets her medication. The cut scene was of the staff coming in to give her the pills. She refuses, so they smack her in the gut with their batons and force the pills down her throat, then kick her while she's on the floor doubled over in pain. - Another hospital scene was cut that took place after John Connor robs the ATM and heads for the mall. Sarah Connor was to have a dream where Reese appears and warns her that THEIR son is in danger. She has to save him, etc. They kiss and hug, but Reese disappears and walks out. Sarah chases him outside, to find herself in the same spot as the nuclear nightmare scene later in the movie. She sees the large white flash, and then she wakes up. This is the only scene that Michael Biehn was in, and appeared in some promotional trailers. Cameron cut the scene because he thought that audiences who had not seen the first movie would be confused by the appearance of Kyle. - A scene showing the T-1000 at the scene of the crashed truck in the canal, where he steals a police car. - After the T-1000 kills John's foster parents, he ventures outside to get the dog to shut-up. He reaches down and snatches the collar off the dog, thus killing the dog. On the collar is stamped the dog's name "Max". The T-1000 realizes he has been duped by John (actually the Terminator imitating John's voice) by calling the dog "Wolfie." - After killing the dog, the T-1000 goes to John's room to try to find any clues as to where John might be. He stalks around the room waving his arms and "feeling" things on the shelves, on the walls, etc. He eventually stops in front of a poster, realizes there is something behind it, rips it down and finds a box of mementos (pictures, and the like). This must be where the T-1000 figures out about the desert compound that Sarah, John, and the Terminator head to after the hospital. Director James Cameron decided to cut it because the T-1000's sampling abilities were already sufficiently conveyed in earlier scenes, so this scene became redundant (and because it made the T-1000 look too much like it had x-ray vision). This scene was NOT included in the SE. - At the abandoned gas station, a scene involved Sarah and John talking with the Terminator about learning. He tells them that his CPU was switched to read-only before being sent out. Skynet doesn't want them to learn too much while on their own. John asks if it can be reset. You then see the Terminator's face in a "mirror" talking Sarah through the procedure. A puppet was used for the foreground Sarah to work on and Linda Hamilton's twin sister Leslie Hamilton Gearren was in the mirror mimicking Linda's hand movements. After the CPU is removed, the Terminator shuts-down and Sarah places it on a table. She picks up a hammer and tries to smash it to render him inoperative. John stops her and says they need him. He starts to show authority for the first time and asks her how he is supposed to be a great military leader if even his own mother won't listen to him. They reinsert the chip back into the Terminator's head. - A scene at a truck stop before John, Sarah and Terminator arrive at the Salceda farm. John points out to the Terminator that he shouldn't be so serious all the time. He encourages him to smile once in a while. The Terminator tries to perform a smile, but the result is less than convincing, so John encourages him to practice in front of a mirror. - Directly after Terminator tells Sarah about Miles Dyson, there is a scene where we see Dyson in his private residence, where his wife tells him he is much too focused on finishing his microchip. - Some more dialog between John and the Terminator as they assemble weapons in the desert. John tells about his unusual childhood, and ask Terminator if he experiences emotions. - Before Sarah takes aim at Dyson, we see her approaching the house and setting up weapons. - A scene in Cyberdyne, where Dyson destroys the model of his revolutionary microchip. - In the steel mill, the T-1000 experiences some negative effects from being frozen earlier. It has difficulties maintaining his form when it touches other materials, like steel bars and the floor. This leads to another deleted shot, where John sees the two Sarahs and recognizes the fake one because its feet seem fused to the metal floor. - A scene in a Skynet-free future, with Sarah Connor as an older woman giving a monologue about how John became a senator. This scene was NOT included in the SE, because James Cameron felt it just didn't fit the dark, gloomy atmosphere of the rest of the movie.

For all of the mayhem and violence in this movie, 16 (at the most) characters actually die, and only one of these by gunfire. Of the people we know get killed, there are three soldiers, the armored truck driver and his gunner, the cop, Lewis the guard, a mall employee, the trucker, Todd and Janelle Voight, a cop on a motorcycle, Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson, and the tanker truck driver. We're not exactly sure if the police helicopter pilot dies (he falls from a high place). The pickup truck driver is probably not in danger of dying as he does not jump off of the bridge, but only jumps over the center divider in the middle of the bridge. The T-1000 is directly or indirectly responsible for most of the deaths. Surprisingly, the Terminator never kills anyone, only injures people.

This is the second time that Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) kills a Terminator by pushing a machine control button. She does this in every Terminator movie she is in (she is absent from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). Each time, the Terminator is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Series Trademark: The Terminator loses its left arm, and hauls itself forward with its right.

In the fight scene in the steel mill between the two Terminators, the set was liberally dressed with rubber so the actors wouldn't hurt themselves when being flung around.

The damaged Terminator look in the climax of the film took five hours to apply and an hour to remove.

Michael Biehn was the first choice for the role of the T-1000, in a complete reversal of roles with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was now a hero. But this idea was abandoned as it was judged too confusing for viewers.

The Terminator is the only character to be listed in the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes and Villains as both a villain (for The Terminator) and a hero (for Terminator 2: Judgment Day). Al Pacino and Arnold Schwarzenegger are the only two actors to be on the list as playing a villain and a hero but Pacino played two different characters. 13 other actors and actresses appear twice or more but either all as heroes or all as villains.

For the early promotion of the movie, promotional material avoided showing Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, the T-800, together with John Connor (Edward Furlong), in order to hide the fact that Schwarzenegger played a 'good' Terminator this time. Later trailers and pictures would reveal that he did not play the 'bad guy' this time.

While Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Patrick share several scenes together, they never exchange a single line of dialogue face to face. The only instance seen where dialogue is spoken between the two is when the T-800 tells the frozen T-1000, "Hasta la vista, baby", which the T-1000 could not hear (they do however exchange words over the phone, with the T-800 speaking in John's voice and the T-1000 speaking in Jenelle's).