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James Cameron Says O.J. Simpson Was Almost Cast as 'The Terminator' (VIDEO)

by Oliver Miller, posted Jun 28th 2010 1:35AM

James Cameron Thought O.J. Simpson was 'Too Nice' for 'The Terminator'James Cameron is the director of 'Avatar' -- the highest-grossing film in history. But Mr. Cameron hasn't always had a smooth road to movie success. On '60 Minutes' (Sun., 7PM ET on CBS), Cameron discusses his early years in the industry -- including the time a studio tried to cast O.J. Simpson in one of his movies.

After being fired from his first directing job -- on the notorious flop 'Piranha II' -- Cameron had a vision for a new film. This vision literally came to him in a dream; a dream about a skeletal robot rising from a fire. In the end, the film became 'The Terminator,' his first blockbuster success.

But even though Arnold Schwarzenegger became famous in the role, he wasn't the studio's first choice. An executive wanted to cast O.J. Simpson as the killer cyborg from the future. Cameron was completely against the idea, thinking that O.J. would be totally miscast as a killer. Of course, this all took place years before the murders that would make Simpson infamous.

While telling this story, Cameron had to wince at the irony of the whole thing. "I didn't know O.J. Simpson. ... I didn't know that he was gonna go murder his wife later and become the real 'Terminator.'"

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Matt

Jgreenefields,

It's pretty obvious to the entire world that OJ did it. The defense was never able to offer any sort of actual proof or shred of evidence that ANYONE else was ever involved in the murder. In fact, their only goal was to refute the prosecutions evidence, not offer a valid alternative.

The reason OJ was not convicted was not that he was proven innocent beyond reasonable doubt, because he wasn't, it was because the prosecution failed to provide proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The police failed to follow basic procedures, no proper follow-ups were ever done, and the evidence was handled in the worst way possible. The judicial system worked in this case not because it let an innocent man go free, but because a potentially innocent man was not proven guilty as he HAS TO BE for a conviction to be held. Innocent until proven guilty.

June 29 2010 at 9:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jgreenefields

Hello, O.J. Simpson WAS NOT CONVICTED for the murder of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman

June 28 2010 at 2:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Jgreenefields's comment
tom

Tru,though he was never convicted of redrum, he was adjudged in civil court. T1 and T2's lines might have been too difficult for poor OJ, but he'd been great in Running Man, least till they lock the cell at night>

June 29 2010 at 1:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Claire

I thought that was an urban legend that OJ was considered too nice to be the Terminator. I guess it's one of those facts that's only significant because of the tragedy that happened later.

June 28 2010 at 12:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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