Arnold Schwarzenegger once revealed that he was not the choice to lead James Cameron’s The Terminator but the late NFL star, OJ Simpson.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Once Revealed How OJ Simpsons Was The First Choice For The Terminator. (Photo Credit – IMDb)

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a renowned film personality and is known for his action movies all over. One of his most famous franchises is The Terminator.

The first film in the series The Terminator almost had ex-NFL star OJ Simpson was allegedly the first choice for the role. Arnold opened up about it himself in an interview a few years back.

For the unversed, Simpson was born Ornethal James Simpson, an American football player with a controversial life. He was accused of murdering his former wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman in the 90s.

During one incident, he tried to escape the police in his car, and it was reportedly widely televised. In 2007, he was arrested and charged with armed robbery and kidnapping.

His acting projects include The Towering Inferno, The Cassandra Crossing, and more. He has also appeared in the television mini-series Roots during his time in the NFL. Simpson was convicted and sentenced to 33 years of imprisonment.

OJ Simpson was released early from his parole in 2021. On April 10, he passed away after suffering from cancer. He was 76 years old.

In 2019, in an interview with The Independent, Arnold Schwarzenegger claimed that Oj Simpson was the first choice of James Cameron for The Terminator.

Arnie said, “It was actually OJ Simpson that was the first cast Terminator. Then somehow [James Cameron] felt that he was not as believable for a killing machine.

So then they hired me. That’s really what happened.” The Total Recall star also revealed that James drew the concept art for the title character fashioned after OJ’s appearance.

Arnold Schwarzenegger also mentioned that the artwork is in his office. He explained that underneath his face is actually OJ Simpson’s face, adding, “It was already painted on it, with the leather jacket and the gun in the hand. So if anyone would ever scrape off the part of my face, underneath will be OJ.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, the Titanic maker clarified that Arnold Schwarzenegger was wrong and that OJ Simpson was not under the painting.

Cameron added that OJ Simpson was never in the mix at all and “That was rejected out of hand before it ever got any traction.”

The last Terminator movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead was released in 2019, and it was Terminator: Dark Fate. There are six movies in this franchise.