Arnold Schwarzenegger Helped Save One Of The Terminator Franchise's Best Action Sequences

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Back in 1984, James Cameron's sci-fi slasher movie "The Terminator" became a sleeper hit and helped establish Arnold Schwarzenegger as a star in the process. The Austrian Oak has always seemed well aware of how important Cameron's film was to his career, too. As such, Arnie broke his own sequel rule to star in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," and he even fought to save one of the best moments in the entire franchise — namely, the big crane chase sequence from 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

In the early 2000s, Cameron wasn't interested in helming another "Terminator" movie. So, after Ridley Scott passed on directing "Terminator 3," Jonathan Mostow was brought in to oversee the threequel. This time, the movie's plot involves Skynet sending Kristanna Loken's T-X back in time to take out future members of the human resistance. The advanced model Terminator quickly manages to track down John Connor (Nick Stahl) himself, and once again, the future leader of the human resistance finds himself on the run.

Just like with "T2," this film also gives us a standout truck chase scene. But rather than playing out in the viaducts of Los Angeles, the chase in "Rise of the Machines" unfolds at street-level, with the T-X commandeering a mobile crane and pursuing John and his future wife, Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), as they try to outrun her in a flatbed truck. Meanwhile, Arnie's T-850 model Terminator attempts to take out the T-X, resulting in what is arguably the best sequence in the whole movie. Due to an ever-inflating budget, however, a large part of the sequence was almost scrapped until Arnie stepped in to save the day.

Arnold Schwarzenegger crafted an iron-clad contract for his "Terminator 3" return, ensuring $29.25 million of the film's $187 million budget went to him. That's to say nothing of his profit participation. Not since Jack Nicholson ensured the box office smash "Batman" never made a profit has an actor managed to wring so many concessions from the studio behind a film — all of which meant Arnie had money to burn. And some of that money may have even gone to saving a shot from the movie's big truck chase scene.

During said chase, Arnie's Terminator dangles from the hook of the crane as it ploughs through a crowded street before smashing through a glass building facade, causing the building to collapse. In Schwarzenegger's DVD commentary for "T3" (which is, by the way, delightfully bizarre), the actor recalls how he "fought" to keep that moment after the film's producers decided to cut it.

As the actor explains in the commentary track, "When they saw the budget getting to be bigger and bigger and bigger, and they are over-budget now probably by $10 million, they started really freaking out." According to Schwarzenegger, the producers' solution was to cut the shot of the crane destroying the building, but he stood strong because he loved the shot so much. "We see close-ups and shots of inside the glass building, what the Terminator goes through," he notes. "It's an extraordinary scene and makes it very special." 

It's been reported that Arnie used $1.4 million of his own salary to preserve that shot, though the primary source for this claim has seemingly been lost. At the time of writing, the only sources available are trivia sites and a 2015 post from A Couple of Average Joes.

More than 20 years after "Terminator 3" hit theaters, Arnold Schwarzenegger is apparently done with the "Terminator" franchise. But at least he seemed passionate about the saga while he was still part of it. That said, if Arnie did put up some of his own money for the crane chase in "Terminator 3," it was the very least he could do. His own exorbitant deal — which, as Slate once reported in 2005, also included a $1.5 million lump sum for "private jets, a fully equipped gym trailer, three-bedroom deluxe suites on locations, round-the-clock limousines, and personal bodyguards" — ensured the film would go over-budget.

What's more, at one point, the crane chase as a whole seemed doomed after a mishap that sent the cost ever higher. As detailed in a post from the heavy equipment repair service Wheco, the 165-ton Demag AC 395 was significantly damaged during a practice run of this sequence. Indeed, it seems that just days before the chase was due to be shot, a stunt driver flipped and rolled the crane, prompting producers to call in technicians to restore it. This only further added to the cost.

Still, while it remains unclear whether Schwarzenegger actually shelled out to save parts of the crane chase, the book "Contracting Out Hollywood: Runaway Productions and Foreign Location Shooting" asserts that Arnie did take an $8.5 million pay cut in order to keep production on the movie in Los Angeles. Due to the ever-spiraling budget, its studio backers wanted to shift the shoot to Vancouver, but Arnie's sacrifice, if you want to call it that, prevented this from happening.