Ridley Scott is setting the record straight on long-standing rumours about his near-involvement with the Terminator franchise.
The acclaimed filmmaker revealed in a new Q&A with The Guardian on Aug. 28 that he was once approached to direct Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines back in 2003, and turned down a staggering offer to do it.
“I’m proud about this. I turned down a $20 million fee. See, I can’t be bought, dude,” the 87-year-old director said. He recalled that during negotiations, someone suggested he ask for the same salary Arnold Schwarzenegger was being paid to return as the T-800.
“I thought: ‘I’ll try it out,’” Scott said. “I said: ‘I want what Arnie gets. When they said yes, I thought: ‘F--- me.’”
Even with the massive paycheck on the table, Scott admitted he couldn’t bring himself to take on the project.
“It’s not my thing,” he explained. “It’s like doing a Bond movie. The essence of a Bond movie is fun and camp. Terminator is pure comic strip. I would try to make it real. That’s why they’ve never asked me to do a Bond movie, because I could f--- it up.”
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was the first installment in the series following James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991 and marked the franchise’s shift away from its creator.
Alongside Scott, directors Roland Emmerich and David Fincher were also considered to take the reins, but the job ultimately went to Jonathan Mostow, best known for Breakdown and U-571.
