Ridley Scott turned down $20 million to direct Terminator III, said ‘I can’t be bought’, film grossed $430 million worldwide

Director Ridley Scott recalls turning down an exorbitant fee of $20 million for directing the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Terminator III.

By: ANI

New Delhi | August 29, 2025 04:38 PM IST

Ridley Scott declined the chance to direct Terminator 3. (Photo: Reuters)

Director Ridley Scott revealed that he turned down a $20 million offer to direct the Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer Terminator 3: Rise Of The 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, “I’m proud about this. I turned down a $20 million fee. See, I can’t be bought.” While the 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger-led pic was ultimately helmed by director Jonathan Mostow, Scott admitted he did enquire 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.

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However, despite this, when he learnt 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), Blade Runner (1982), Gladiator (2000), Thelma & Louise (1991), House of Gucci (2021) and Napoleon (2023), among others.

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