WATCH: James Cameron Tells Chris Wallace What He Thought When Exec Floated O.J. Simpson To Be The Terminator

CNN anchor Chris Wallace asked pioneering Avatar director James Cameron about his reaction to a studio executive who suggested O.J. Simpson for the title role in The Terminator.

Cameron’s hit sequel Avatar: The Way of Water is already the 9th highest-grossing film of all time with $1.547B worldwide as of Friday after 23 days, according to Deadline — surpassing the total that many experts say is the break-even point that Cameron needed to pass in order to justify the next film in the planned 5-movie series.

The latest interviews from season two of Wallace’s series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace feature Cameron and stage/screen star Hugh Jackman.

In his lengthy interview with Cameron, Wallace talked  about the success of the Avatar sequel and its planned follow-ups, and also ticked through some of Cameraon’s past successes — and that one chilling suggestion from a studio suit:

WALLACE: We have one of the classic scenes from the Terminator. Let’s play it and we’ll talk on the other side.

[CLIP]

WALLACE: Still a classic 40 years later, Jim, you say you don’t get thrown off by the studio? Is it true that the studio in this case wanted somebody other than Arnold Schwarzenegger to play the Terminator?

CAMERON: Very early on a highly placed person at one of the two studios that funded that that film, had a brilliant idea called called me up and said, “Are you sitting down?” I said, “Well, no, I’m not.” He said, “Are you sitting? OJ Simpson? Terminator?” I said, “I actually think that’s a bad idea.” I actually didn’t go anywhere. I think it’s historically interesting.

WALLACE: That’s, that’s an interesting one. Yes, OJ Simpson

Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace drops new episodes Fridays on HBO Max, with a highlights show on CNN Sunday night.

Watch the full exchange above via HBO Max and CNN.