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The T-1000 mimics anybody, so why didn’t the director use Robert Patrick for the cop who initially encounters the electrical disturbance?
I understand that perhaps they didn’t want the reveal that it’s a poly-alloy metal or whatever, but the T-1000 suddenly showing up in the likeness of Robert Patrick always seemed odd to me.
Did they not want to reveal it could mimic anybody at the start of the movie?
A few reasons come to mind:
The liquid metal properties are slowly revealed, so it keeps surprising the audience: when he gets shot, mimicking the checkered floor, trying to pass through the gates, etc. It wouldn't be so interesting to reveal this property right away.
It makes it easier to identify the character; it could be confusing to have someone else land as the T-1000 just to get transformed into Robert Patrick right at the beginning of the movie. This way, Robert is the default face of the T-1000 the whole time.
Director James Cameron wanted to make a big reveal of the character, as dissected in this blog:
Just as in the first Terminator, Connor’s human-resistance faction sent back a protector to keep him safe. And right up to the moment the two clash, the audience is meant to see Schwarzenegger as the same heavy he played in the last film, and his opposite number,… as the hero sent to rescue John.
and later here
The T-1000 certainly kills the first man he encounters, and takes his police car—but Cameron elides over the details offscreen, never showing the T-1000 changing shape, or making it clear that the cop is dead instead of unconscious.
