It is impossible to know whether another combination could also have produced a successful movie. The Terminator already depended on Cameron’s direction, Gale Anne Hurd’s producing, Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor, Brad Fiedel’s score, Stan Winston’s effects work, and a production team capable of making a small budget look much larger. AFI’s production record confirms how modest the scale was compared with the franchise that followed. (AFI Catalog)
But the lunch changed the face of the threat.
Schwarzenegger arrived connected to the heroic role and spent the meeting explaining the villain. Cameron arrived expecting to reject him and left imagining him as the machine.
The most important thing Schwarzenegger said that day was not a catchphrase. It was a rule for the performance: a machine should show no joy, no gratification, and no sense of triumph. It should complete the mission and move to the next task.
That idea became the character.