Edward Furlong Says He Was Originally Cast in TERMINATOR 3, but Lost Role After He OD'd
Edward Furlong recently appeared on Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside of You, and while on the show he talked about being in a movie like Terminator 2: Judgement Day when he was 14 years old and what that was like for him
One thing he mentioned was how he ran away from home at 13 before he started shooting Terminator due to a family filled with abuse, mental illness, and addiction. He also talked about his own addiction problems.
Furlong also recounted a story of how he was initially supposed to reprise his role as John Connor in Terminator 3, and how he lost that opportunity.
The initial multi-million dollar contract that he signed with the studio included a clause that he wasn’t allowed to do drugs.
After revealing that, he said, “And I remember, literally, it was a sweet deal, it was the best deal that I had ever gotten in my life. It was like a lot of money. Millions, yeah millions. And I’d never made that kind of money.”
He says: “So, I called my friends and I’m like, ‘guys, I just signed the f –kin’ awesome contract. We’re gonna go to the club. We’re gonna get a bunch of blow, and we’re gonna f –kin’ that’s it! This is the end man! We’re gonna fu –kin’ do it.’”
It was on this binge that everything fell apart. He shares how he was going to sniff coke off the toilet and he spilled it and ended up just sniffing up everything that he spilled. Not long after, he explained, he “woke up.”
He shared that experience saying, “The lights, so embarassing, the lights in the club were on. People are standing around me. My buddy’s like crying, he’s holding me, and I’m like ‘what happened?’ And he’s like dude you fu –kin’ OD’d. And I’m like, ‘I didn’t OD, what are you talking about!?’”
He goes on to confirm he did OD, and that he was in unbelief by what was happening. He explained that the ambulance came, “It was, like, so embarrassing!?” Then the news caught wind.
He said: “Of, course! They’re like you lost the movie. We’re not going to do it with you. That was it! And I was like, I’m so sorry! But, it didn’t matter.”
Since that experience, Furlong’s life went into a downward spiral, but in the end, right now, he is happy and sober. He managed to get out of that darkness he was in, which is awesome.