“I’ll be back” from The Terminator is one of the most iconic lines in all of cinema history, right up there with “Houston, we have a problem” from Apollo 13 and “Luke, I am your father” The Empire Strikes Back (although the actual line is “No. I am your father,” no one remembers it as that and everyone’s actually been quoting the movie wrong for years…moving on), but that line wouldn’t exist if Arnold Schwarzenegger had gotten his way while filming. Speaking to Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa last week, Schwarzenegger confessed that he would’ve preferred the line be delivered a little differently:
‘It was “I’ll be back” and I wanted to change it to “I will be back,”‘ he told the radio presenters, before explaining that director James Cameron fought tooth and nail against the change.
‘There was this big blowup with Jim Camerson,’ Schwarzenegger laughed, saying the Avatar director ‘goes nuts’ if you question his script writing.
‘There was this whole argument about how should we say it…so eventually he says “well, what does the f****** script say?”
‘Well, the script says I’ll be back,’ the actor replied at the time, saying Cameron’s response was to yell ‘then say it!’
…’I felt the line would sound more machine-like and menacing without the contraction.’(via)
To be fair to Schwarzenegger, the line does sound more machine-like without the contraction. Then again, it’s the short crispness of the phrase that makes it stick with you; taking out the contraction makes it a little clunkier and less impactful. In other words, I’m on Cameron’s side here.
But will Schwarzenegger deliver the famous line in the upcoming Terminator Genisys movie? See for yourself in the trailer below:
[H/T Daily Mail]