Hollywood rarely hits the jackpot with sequels as many often end up being a disappointment as compared to their predecessor. However, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator franchise surely cannot relate to any of this as Terminator 2: Judgment Day is still up there with the best action movies of all time.

Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator
However, creating a masterpiece of a film is no easy task. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears need to be put into filming (sometimes literally), in order to receive tremendous love and support from the viewers. Arnold Schwarzenegger can sure vouch for this as he received many injuries on the set. One such injury was during a chase scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger kept tearing the skin off his fingers while trying to work a shotgun.

How Arnold Schwarzenegger Got Injured During Terminator 2

Arnold Schwarzenegger in the chase scene

Fans were on the edge of their seats during the entirety of the Los Angeles River sequence where T-1000 is chasing after Edward Furlong’s John Connor. As the young boy drives his bike as fast as he can, Arnold Schwarzenegger joins the chase and grabs John to put him onto his own bike. Schwarzenegger was also focused on shooting at T-1000 with his Winchester shotgun, twirling it to reload after every shot.

The problem, though, was that it was practically impossible to twirl the actual shotgun which caused the team to make a modified prop with an extended lever. However, this didn’t mean that it got easier for the actor. During the film’s director’s commentary, James Cameron revealed that Schwarzenegger practiced the iconic twirl so many times that he ended up tearing the skin on his fingers, over and over again. It was especially worse as Schwarzenegger carried out the task without gloves. The scene was also tough for Furlong who got hit again and again by Schwarzenegger’s shotgun.

This just goes on to say that no matter how smooth a stunt or an act might seem on the screen, it takes a ton of practice to reach perfection. And sometimes, actors just have to endure it all for the sake of the film!

Arnold Schwarzenegger Almost Broke His Hand

Arnold Schwarzenegger almost broke his hand because of the shotgun
During one of the days of filming the same scene, Schwarzenegger accidentally ended up picking the wrong prop. This prop gun had a lever much smaller than the one he was used to and the moment he went ahead to do the twirl, his fingers got caught in the shotgun’s lever. Owing to the gun falling back and its weight, Schwarzenegger faced a lot of pain and almost broke his hand. Thankfully, though, his hand was okay and there were no long-term damages.

All of the endurance surely paid off at the end of the day as Terminator 2 became the only film in the franchise to get nominated at the Oscars. Not only was the sequel nominated for the awards, but it also took home four of the six Oscars. That’s quite a success!

You can stream Terminator 2: Judgment Day on HBO Max.

Source: IMDb