According to PEOPLE, Patrick recently revealed that Billy Idol had initially been lined up to play the shape-shifting Terminator before an injury forced the production to reconsider its plans.
Billy Idol’s Injury Opened the Door for Robert Patrick
Directed by James Cameron, “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” arrived in 1991 as the highly anticipated follow-up to 1984’s “The Terminator.” The sequel brought back Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, but reversed his role by making him John Connor’s protector while introducing the T-1000 as a new and more advanced threat.
Idol was initially considered for the part of the liquid-metal assassin. However, a 1990 motorcycle accident left the singer with a leg injury, making the physically demanding role, which required extensive running, impossible for him to perform as planned.
The change eventually led Cameron to search for an actor who was not already strongly associated with a particular screen persona. Patrick was relatively unknown at the time, which made him a fit for the director’s approach to the character. “Once the Billy Idol thing wasn’t gonna work out, [Cameron] decided to look for an unknown,” Patrick told PEOPLE.
That decision would introduce audiences to a completely different kind of movie villain. Patrick’s T-1000 could mimic people and objects while pursuing John Connor, played by 13-year-old Edward Furlong, and the actor’s performance became one of the defining elements of the sequel.
Looking back on landing the part 35 years later, Patrick still seems struck by how improbable the opportunity was. “It was just a thrill of a lifetime,” he recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it, to be honest with you, even though I did it. I don’t know how everything lined up.”