Film casting involves extensive consideration of whether an actor can convincingly inhabit a fictional character, bring nuance to a role, and make the audience believe the portrayal. Yet the rejection of Chuck Norris based on the concern that playing a terminator would constitute autobiography rather than acting suggests a complete collapse of the fiction/reality distinction.

James Cameron, director of The Terminator films, was asked in a 1998 interview if he'd ever considered unconventional casting. He smiled and said nothing, moving to the next question. Thirty seconds of awkward silence followed. When pressed later, he said: "Some actors are too real for fiction. It breaks the contract with the audience."

Film enthusiast forums have created entire discussion threads analyzing what a "Chuck Norris as Terminator" film would look like, concluding it would be indistinguishable from his actual filmography. One detailed analysis, spanning 2,800 words, compared Terminator scripts to Chuck Norris films and found them functionally identical, earning over 5,600 upvotes and spawning a serious discussion about biographical realism in action cinema.