The 'Terminator 2' Scene James Cameron Called "The Most Dangerous Stunt" He’s Ever Done

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James Cameron

Despite his modern-day image as a pioneer of CGI visual effects that he gained with his Avatar films, James Cameron has also worked tirelessly in the world of practical effects and stunt-work throughout his career. With stunts already being an infamously unforgiving business, it was Cameron’s classic sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day that really pushed the limits for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stuntman, in a way even Cameron felt conflicted about.

Which Scene In ‘Terminator 2’ Did James Cameron Deem Extremely Dangerous?

The Terminator aiming a shotgun while he rides a motorbike with a young John Connor

When speaking to Female.com.au about his Terminator sequel, Cameron mentioned a stunt in the 3D Skynet Edition of the film that takes place during the classic truck chase scene from the film’s first act. In this stunt, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stuntman, Peter Kent, ran onto the back of the truck during the thrilling canal chase scene and shot his gun. While on paper this may seem simple enough (especially compared to the headline-grabbing stunts the likes of Tom Cruise attempt to pull off these days), it was an incredibly risky piece of choreography, with Cameron being quoted as calling it “The most dangerous stunt I've ever been involved with!” That’s also really saying something, given the many wild action set pieces the director has had in his films, from the Terminator films to the action-packed Aliens to his other Schwarzenegger team-up in True Lies.

Cameron went on to elaborate on the stunt, noting that it was actually safer to do with less safety rigging for the stuntman so he would be able to get out of the way quickly if need be. The gravity of this work was clearly not lost on Cameron, with him going on to say “there was no forgiveness with that stuff — you either did it right or you were dead.”

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How Did The ‘Terminator 2’ Stunt Affect James Cameron’s Filmmaking?

Because of the dire consequences of this kind of stunt work, Cameron has seemingly taken a more measured approach to its inclusion as he grew and matured as a filmmaker. He noted that if he were making Terminator 2 again today, there would be some slight differences in how he would approach the action, stating “I think most of the stunts I would do more or less as we did them then, and a few I would do digitally. Because I don't think anybody should ever get killed or injured for a movie given what we can do today.” From this, it seems that Cameron deems a happy middle ground the place to be, without completely eschewing practical action for CGI (though his more recent films are certainly more CGI-heavy), and keeping the well-being of everyone involved in mind.

What The ‘Terminator 2’ Stunt Tells Us About Stuntwork And Filmmaking

This approach and new perspective from Cameron sparks an interesting conversation about the balance of real practical action work and using modern-day tech to keep the production as safe as possible. As mentioned, in today’s large-scale action scenes that all too often devolve into muddy-grey CGI messes particularly with the likes of more modern superhero films, movies like the Mission: Impossible films and the John Wick franchise have garnered enthusiastic critical acclaim and fan support in large part because of their more classic, practical approach to their action sequences This also often makes for much more visceral and effectively exciting set pieces. Much like most professions, however, the progression of technology that allows for things to be done with more safety for those involved is also a large factor to take into consideration, and, as Cameron noted, no one should get hurt making a film.

So, while films try to find the balance between dangerous but better-looking stuntwork and more safety-minded effects work, James Cameron’s ideas of balancing the two that he found after the riskiness of that Terminator 2 stunt could be the correct starting point.