James Cameron‘s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) is one of the best sci-fi and action movies. It is also one of the most influential films of modern cinema in the use of both practical and CGI effects, as well as the transition of practical effects to the Computer-Generated Imagery. It is a technically important film that advanced special effects, especially at a time when CGI was still not advanced enough to create completely convincing human doubles.
However, Cameron himself was a master of special filming techniques, optical illusions, and practical-effects trickery, years before CGI would take the helm. Among his tricks is the use of identical twins in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, offering the film a perfect physical presence, and realistic interactions.
The idea came when Cameron learned that actress Linda Hamilton had an identical twin sister. Linda Hamilton’s twin, Leslie, appears in a few scenes, as the practical double, without using CGI and special effects, with most notably the final scene where T-1000 impersonates the character of Sarah Connor to trick the young John Connor, until the real Sarah appears, allowing two “Sarah Connors” to appear together in the same shot.
Besides the Hamilton sisters for the role of Sarah Connor, Cameron’s practical-effects trickery with no-edit twins was used for another scene involving the mental hospital security guard at Pescadero State Hospital and the T-1000 imitating him, including twins Don and Dan Stanton. That wasn’t CGI either.
