Before Schwarzenegger, there was OJ: How OJ Simpson nearly became The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed to The Independent that the ex-NFL player and infamous murder suspect was originally cast to lead James Cameron’s iconic film franchise

OJ Simpson nearly became the deadly cyborg assassin of James Cameron’s legendary Terminator franchise, before Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast to lead the series.

The former American football star and infamous murder suspect, who died aged 76 on Wednesday (10 April) from cancer, was revealed to have originally been cast as The Terminator.

“It was actually OJ Simpson that was the first cast Terminator,” Schwarzenegger told The Independent in 2019. “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.”

In 1994, Simpson was charged with the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, but was later acquitted.

Simpson was apparently so involved with the original 1984 Terminator that Cameron even drew concept art for the title character modelled after his appearance.

Schwarzenegger revealed that this artwork is currently hanging in his office at home.

“On the painting that I have at home – it was painted by Jim Cameron,” he explained. “Underneath my face is actually OJ Simpson’s face. It was already painted on it, with the leather jacket and the gun in the hand.”

OJ Simpson and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Getty Images)

Schwarzenegger continued: “I have the painting in my office. So if anyone would ever scrape off the part of my face, underneath will be OJ.”

“It’s the masterpiece beneath!” his co-star Linda Hamilton joked.

In a later interview with The Los Angeles Times, Cameron debunked Schwarzenegger’s claims that Simpson had originally been cast.

“Let me correct that right now,” the filmmaker said. “Arnold is literally just wrong. I know it’s hard to imagine! You don’t argue with Arnold.”

Cameron additionally rejected Schwarzenegger’s remarks about the painting. “I didn’t make the painting for him. I made the painting for us, for the production, of him as the Terminator,” the Titanic director said. “There’s no OJ under that painting… OJ Simpson was never in the mix at all. That was rejected out of hand before it ever got any traction.”

Schwarzenegger, now 76, led all six Terminator movies, from 1984’s The Terminator to 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate.

Simpson, who spent 11 seasons playing in the NFL following his illustrious college football career, made his film debut in Terence Young’s 1974 crime thriller, The Klansman. His other notable roles included three Naked Gun movies, 1976’s Western drama The Cassandra Crossing and the 1987 musical comedy Back to the Beach.