James Cameron chose Billy Idol to be the T-1000 Terminator but Idol got injured before filming

[astro]

Interesting little factoid. Wonder what kind of T-1000 he would have made.

Wiki here

Idol was involved in a serious motorbike accident, which nearly cost him a leg, on 6 February 1990 at the corner of Gordon Avenue and Fountain Avenue, in Hollywood.[15] He was hit by a car when he ran a stop sign while riding home from the studio one night, requiring a steel rod to be placed in his leg.[16] Shortly prior to this, film director James Cameron had chosen Idol to play the T-1000 character in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and had drawn storyboards to resemble him, but the accident prevented Idol from accepting.[17]

[Grestarian]

Oh! So he would have been the liquid-metal bad guy?

I think he would have done well enough and I suspect his patented Idol Sneer from the music videos would have transferred quite nicely to the big screen.

On the other hand, Robert Patrick did an excellent job as well. And I think the He looks like the ideal clean-cut cop; how could he be the antagonist? trope was perfected (or at least epitomized) in T2. I think the stereotype transferred to real life rather quickly. Much in the way Jaws made people afraid of the ocean, I think T2 made everyone really not want to get stopped by cops, regardless of how clean-cut and pure they looked.

–G!

[SenorBeef]

I think Robert Patrick is underrated, he’s one of the all-time best villains in that movie and doesn’t get enough credit for it. He pulled off an subtle alienness that you’d expect of a completely new type of machine that wasn’t like the rest of his kind. Menacing but smooth enough to get what he wants from people when he needs to. I think his performance is one of the best parts of the movie and it’s hard to imagine anyone else.

[cochrane]

@Grestarian

Oh! So he would have been the liquid-metal bad guy?

I think he would have done well enough and I suspect his patented Idol Sneer from the music videos would have transferred quite nicely to the big screen.

On the other hand, Robert Patrick did an excellent job as well. And I think the He looks like the ideal clean-cut cop; how could he be the antagonist? trope was perfected (or at least epitomized) in T2. I think the stereotype transferred to real life rather quickly. Much in the way Jaws made people afraid of the ocean, I think T2 made everyone really not want to get stopped by cops, regardless of how clean-cut and pure they looked.

–G!

Obligatory Wayne’s World 2 link.

[Smapti]

I would have been just old enough to know him as the T-1000 before I realized he had been a pop singer as well.

So it would have only compounded the confusion I experienced in the late '90s when I started getting into classic rock and found out that the bad guy in that one episode of Sliders was also the lead singer of the Who.

[Atomic_Alex]

Actually he might have been pretty good in the role but it really is the part that Robert Patrick was born to play, its just kind of hard to imagine the movie without him.

I have a Canadian friend who has a long-standing and deep-rooted fear of police officers just because of Terminator 2.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@Disposable Hero

Actually he might have been pretty good in the role but it really is the part that Robert Patrick was born to play, its just kind of hard to imagine the movie without him.

Not to take anything away from Robert Patrick’s stellar performance, but I’m pretty sure I can picture Michael Douglas doing the role justice.

[Hail_Ants]

Can/has Billy Idol pull off an American accent? Because I can’t imagine the other terminator sounding like a Brit combined with the Teutonic sounding T-800. Remember the T-1000 was the ultimate infiltration killer and Idol doesn’t exactly blend in…

[Leaffan]

Billy was also supposed to play a supporting role in “The Doors” movie, but instead made about a 10 second cameo.

Rough year for Mr. Idol.