Daily Dialogue — August 31, 2013

“I’ll be back.”

— The Terminator (1984), written by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is less with more suggested by hobbs001.

Trivia: The relationship between James Cameron and executive producer / Hemdale head John Daly deteriorated during post-production. According to Cameron, Daly and Orion executive Mike Medavoy (who recommended Arnold Schwarzenegger to Cameron) wanted the film to end right after tanker explosion, removing the climax at the robot factory and epilogue. Orion Pictures, which co-financed the movie, wanted to be known for its quality drama movies (like Amadeus and Platoon), and perceived The Terminator as little more than a low budget vehicle to make some quick money. Quoting from Cameron: “Daly said ‘The film has to end right after the tanker explosion’. I told him straight, ‘F**k you! The film isn’t over yet.’” Daly would ultimately back down, a decision that led to the sudden success of the film. However, the studio refused to do advertisement for the movie. Three weeks after the film was released, Medavoy still ignored Cameron’s request to beef up the film’s ad-campaign: “They told me, when you have a dirty-down action thriller, the film can last in the box-office for about three weeks plus or so. They are treating the film like dog-s**t!” Reportedly, Schwarzenegger still holds a grudge towards Orion Pictures due to their lack of support

Dialogue On Dialogue: Action movies seem to put a premium for ‘less is more’ dialogue, those punchy memorable lines. This is one of the most famous.