James Cameron: Studio wanted O.J. Simpson cast as the Terminator

During an interview with “60 Minutes” that aired last night, acclaimed director James Cameron revealed that he had to persuade high-level studio executives not to cast O.J. Simpson as the lead in “Terminator.”

“The head of Orion, who were going to release the film, called me up

and said, ‘Are you sitting down? I’ve cast this movie. … It’s O.J.

Simpson for The Terminator,’” Cameron said.

Luckily for Schwarzenegger — and perhaps the public — this sounded like a recipe for titanic failure to the director.

“I

said, ‘This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard,’” Cameron said. “I didn’t know O.J. Simpson, I had nothing against him

personally. I didn’t know he was going to go murder his wife later and

become a real Terminator.”

Yup, Simpson was almost the Terminator. Who knows how the course of human history would have been affected if this had become a reality.