Why Did Ridley Scott Turn Down $20 Million Offer To Direct Arnold Schwarzenegger Starrer Terminator 3? Filmmaker Reveals The REAL Reason

Director Ridley Scott revealed that he turned down a 20 million USD offer to direct Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer ‘Terminator 3: Rise Of Machines’ in the past.

‘Terminator 3’ was directed by Jonathan Mostow and was one of the superhit films.

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker recently told The Guardian, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter, that he turned down a huge sum of money when offered by the makers of Terminator 3, saying that he “can’t be bought.”

“I’m proud about this. I turned down a 20M USD fee. See, I can’t be bought, dude,” said Ridley Scott as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.

While the 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger-led pic was ultimately helmed by director Jonathan Mostow, Scott admitted he did inquire about the lead star’s pay for the third instalment before officially declining the offer.

“Someone said: ‘Ask what Arnie gets.’ I thought: ‘I’ll try it out.’ I said: ‘I want what Arnie gets.’ When they said yes, I thought: ‘F*** Me,'” the Gladiator II director recalled as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.

However, despite this, when he learned how much he could earn by taking on the sci-fi action film, Scott said he still “couldn’t do it.”

He added, “It’s not my thing. It’s like doing a [James] Bond movie. The essence of a Bond movie is fun and camp. Terminator is a pure comic strip. I would try to make it real. That’s why they’ve never asked me to do a Bond movie, because I could mess it up,” as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.

‘Terminator 3’ follows John Connor (Nick Stahl) as he faces a female Terminator with power over all the machines.

But a new Terminator unit, a T-850, is sent back through time to help guide him through the coming battle. The movie grossed more than 433 million USD worldwide, not adjusted for inflation.

As for Ridley Scott, the director is known for films including ‘Alien’ (1979) and Blade Runner (1982), Gladiator (2000), Thelma & Louise (1991), House of Gucci (2021) and Napoleon (2023), among others. 

(With Inputs From ANI)