Iconic director James Cameron has revealed that he came up with the idea for Terminator 2 character John Connor while he was on MDMA.
Connor is the 10-year-old son of characters Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. While he was mentioned in the first Terminator film, he only made his on-screen debut in the second movie.
“I remember sitting there once, high on E, writing notes for Terminator, and I was struck by Sting’s song, that ‘I hope the Russians love their children too’,” Cameron told The Ringer, referencing Sting’s 1985 track ‘Russians’.
“And I thought, ‘You know what? The idea of a nuclear war is just so antithetical to life itself.’ That’s where the kid came from.”
It’s safe to say Cameron’s MDMA-inspired idea paid off, as John Connor went on to appear in the films T2 3-D: Battle Across Time, Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, Terminator Salvation, Terminator Genisys, and Terminator: Dark Fate.
In other news, Cameron recently addressed claims that he is “cruel” on sets while conducting a Masterclass in filmmaking.
As reported by/Film, he admitted he could have “listened more”, “been less autocratic” and “not made the movie more important than the human interaction of the crew”.
Cameron’s next project is the long-awaited sequel to Avatar, which was supposed to be released in December 2020 but was pushed back a year due to the pandemic.
If all goes to plan, then Avatar 3, Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 will follow in December 2024, December 2026 and December 2028 respectively.
For more on this topic, follow the Film & TV Observer.
Check out John Connor in Terminator 2, the character James Cameron wrote while on MDMA:
