It’s been 40 years since The Terminator, and by extension, Arnold Schwarzenegger, were introduced to the world. It was James Cameron ’s first movie (he apparently doesn't count Piranha II) and it's arguably still Cameron's best movie.

However, the filmmaker says he's glad he wasn't stuck in his vision enough to not "see how it could work with" the actor.

The filmmaker stands by his dialogue, though: "Let me see your three-out-of-the-four-highest-grossing films — then we’ll talk about dialogue effectiveness."

James Cameron reflected on being “just a punk” when he directed The Terminator and how, looking back now, he knows it wasn’t perfect. The Oscar-winning director spoke to Empire magazine ahead of the classic sci-fi film’s 40th anniversary next month and noted he considers the project his first,

Although many consider it a masterpiece, James Cameron has enough distance from The Terminator to give it his honest review. Marking the 40th anniversary of his directorial debut, the 3x Oscar-winning director looked back on parts of the 1984 film as “pretty cringeworthy” as he admitted the “production value” didn’t age well.

A film that shaped an entire generation, its characters and lines have become fixtures in pop culture, and it turned an Austrian actor into a top-tier Hollywood star. Meanwhile, it turns out that James Cameron