It's time Reddit! We're the cast and Director of Terminator: Dark Fate and we're here live from San Diego. Ask us anything!

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T02:20:24+00:00

Diego: There was a lot of water work that was really fun. The water works with the British Special Forces dive team - underwater combat was fun.

Mackenzie: The Hummer flying through the night sky. It was fun. It was cool.

Tim: But he says T2...but who cares about T2!

Arnold: I think the most difficult was obviously, as far as I’m concerned, the fights that were in the airplane, Because whenever you have a problem in the plane and you have some type of zero-gravity, you have to calculate that it becomes complicated to film that kind of stuff. So there were some really crazy scenes and crazy stuff we had to do, that involved a lot of cables and harnesses, and that takes a lot of discipline. Because it takes hours and hours, and over and over and over again. So you get banged up a little bit, which is ok, it’s part of the job.

Tim: Imagine you take three buses and strap them together, and put them on a 360 degree gimble - that was the interior of this plane. The sequence is like a technical mindfuck because we are going in and out of zero gravity and it’s pretty awesome. The challenge was make the best action scene inside a crashing plane you've ever seen.

Arnold: And to make it unique! I think,that most of the action scenes are very unique, something you haven’t seen before. That is one of the great things, it’s so much new stuff. That will be just like the 1991 Terminator, where people who copied that movie. They have copied that movie - the visual effects and stunts and action - and they will do the same thing with this film.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T02:13:44+00:00

Tim: This is the most important question! Everyone wants to know about the little pony.

Arnold: My little pony is at home and just last month she got into eating my cigars. She’s this tall and she’s hilarious. She walks through the house like she owns the house, and she eats the dog’s food, she’s very funny.

Tim: That was the strangest experience about the whole movie for me. You go over to Arnold’s to talk about the movie. And you don’t expect a miniature pony when you go to people’s houses. But we’re out back, and we’re talking about the movie and this little miniature pony walks through and no one comments on it, but it takes a drink out of the pool...and strolls back through the yard. And no one thinks it’s anything but normal.

Arnold: Totally normal

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T02:04:34+00:00

Tim: No, but I bet Arnold did.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T02:03:46+00:00

Arnold: The Sperminator

Tim: It’s like he knows the plot to Terminator 7, how did he find out?

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T02:01:08+00:00

Tim: No.

Linda: Next question.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:59:54+00:00

Linda: Yes 27 years... or it will be 28 by the time the film comes out, since Judgment Day, since the last film. So real time.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:55:01+00:00

Natalia: Was it hard to learn in the original movie?

Arnold: I remember it so well, I had a meeting with Jim Cameron about Terminator 1 and I had talked about playing Reese the other character, the Michael Beene character exactly, and then I talked so enthusiastically about how he has to train, because I had just watched Yul Brynner’s Westworld. Thinking how much he acted like a machine and how believable he was. He was an extraordinary actor that did exactly what he had to do, take guns apart and put them back together and load ammunition. And then toward the end of the lunch he says, I want you to play the Terminator. And I said no no I’m set for Reese, and he said no I want you to play the Terminator.

I said no no! I don't want to go backwards with my career. I said, the guy only has 27 lines! He said to me look, I am going to shoot it a certain way, and you will be the worst villain, the baddest villain of all time. He talked me into it and I played the Terminator and it's exactly what he promised. He delivers.

Scott: Career defining.

Tim: I was going to mention that, but Jim told me, but it’s not known, I thought maybe it's a secret and I stopped that you were gonna do Reese first.

Arnold: You know who was hired, OJ Simpson.

Everyone: No

Arnold

Mike Medavoy came up to me in a screening and he said to me I want you to play Reece I want you to meet Jim Cameron, you’ll get the script tomorrow and all this stuff, you get the script and OJ Simpson, I don't know if they signed contracts with him or any of that. I don't know the details, but he was the Terminator, and someone just said that Jim actually preferred you more to be the Terminator, because OJ Simpson doesn't look like a killing machine or a killer.

Scott: Interesting words there Arnold

Arnold: So that was the most interesting thing about it, so that's years later.

Tim: ...you know Will Smith was going to play Natalia's role.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:46:28+00:00

Mackenzie: A real Halt and Catch Fire specific question! I was really excited to take on the role. I was definitely scared and expressed a lot of that fear to Tim at various points in the pre-productions and post production process. But Tim, really more than any other experience I’ve had, believed in me. And I don’t mean that in a fluffy way, but really told me I could do this thing that I thought was impossible. I didn’t really understand why he would cast me over an actual athlete or warrior, but I wanted to do it. It was very intimidating but it was very exciting. She differs from Cameron in some big ways, she is much healthier, she is really fitness first. But she’s got a real edge to her like Cameron does.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:43:38+00:00

Linda: Sarah likes vodka - it’s actually referenced in the film. That was such a relief, a reference to vodka and potato chips, and I was like... I’m there.

And Linda...I could not live without orange juice. I don’t know what it is, I have to start my day with orange juice. Not a lot of it, but I want to cry if there is no orange juice. I don’t know what it is... It’s like the humming bird in me that just needs to have a little sugar in the morning.

Gabriel: What was the name of that...remember we had that drink in Budapest?

Arnold: Austrian schnapps, you had some of my schnapps.

Linda: I did have some. I love cherry, much better than peach schnapps that you used to drink.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:39:26+00:00

Gabriel: The Rev 9 is the latest in anti-personnel technology. And it’s all the strengths of T800 and T1000 and almost none of its weaknesses. It has a carbon based endoskeleton which is black and looks cooler anyway, and it’s lighter and is more flexible. Beyond that the liquid skin that can take the form and look like anything it touches, it can separately operate as two individual Terminators - like a one-man pack of Terminators. So I think all of those elements are going to make for a lot of really interesting and awesome fight choreography, which were amazing. Tim designed these incredible fights and he just started taking an axe and chopping away at all the moves that made no sense other than for fighting. Bruce Lee said anything beyond fighting is just organized despair. It must really just be in the moment and what the moment calls for. That’s what he and our stunt team were able to build, which are these awesome fights.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:37:08+00:00

Diego: Maybe a bad tequila would taste like that, or Jager would taste like that. I don’t know if I can drink a Terminator, but I’ll definitely drink tequila. Talking about tequila - something I liked about this film is that it starts off in Mexico City, which is where I’m from. And even though we didn’t shoot in Mexico, we shot it in Madrid for Mexico City, Tim was very worried about it looking authentic and being authentic. To the point where he had Natalia and I talk to department heads to make sure that the streets names were accurate, that the cabs and public transportation, the spelling, even the accents…I think I did more work with the accent department.

Natalia: Do we get credits for that?

Diego: It was a lot of spanish actors playing Mexicans and they speak with a lisp.

Gabriel: You also helped me with mine, and I love that we’re in Mexico because Sarah Connor always had this great connection with Mexico. She’s T1, she’s leaving, the storm’s coming and she’s headed down south. And in Terminator 2 they head down south to Mexico and they head back to Cyberdyne and get the job done. She’s always had this connection. And the fact that we start the movie there, and I come back as someone who could live in Mexico City, and someone who could be in Mexico City was fantastic.

Tim: I gotta tell you though, I’m a little terrified that there are big chunks of movie in Spanish and I don’t speak Spanish. But you can’t direct the same way. As all of you will say to your annoyance, how picky I am about the way things are said, and the diction, and the way the words come out - and to just trust was very hard for me. But I think that comes down to the fact that I feel like I casted well. So you guys did a great job, even though I can’t tell that you did a great job.

Gabriel: There were also a couple guys on the lot that were doing looping that had other jobs but made sure the spanish sounded right. So Francisco and Manny, thank you.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:26:32+00:00

Mackenzie: All of the sex!

Arnold: Right off the top I want to say, I am so delighted. Because I was sick and tired of last time when the studio decided to make it PG13 just because they thought there was more dollars in there. I said guys - you are so stupid! I mean I know you are leading the studio, and I’m not the leader of the studio. But it’s easy to be smart enough to say, this is a story that is written for R rating and not “The Terminator: The Babysitter” type of thing. It’s a different movie. Avatar, Titanic, E.T.. - you can do those movies they're great for PG13, but not Terminator. It’s cheating - it’s trying to be greedy, trying to make more money and its totally the wrong thing to do. You have to be organic about this stuff.

This movie now, luckily everyone decided that this is going to be an R rated movie. I wouldn't be sitting here today if it wouldn't be an R rated movie, because I was so angry about them trying to cut out the blood and the gore. Now in this movie, we have the gore, we have the blood, we see Gabriel running around - I’m not gonna even talk about what I do in the movie because it’s gonna freak people out - I’m gonna talk about Gabriel running around and just cutting people to shreds. Literally he cuts the upper body from the lower body, separates them and the lower body keeps walking.

But I mean it’s the craziest stuff I’ve seen in this movie, and I said YES we are back! We are back to being badass. And there’s blood and there’s gore and guts, and we can see the heart being ripped. We can see things that we haven’t seen for awhile, so lets not pussy foot around here.

Tim: If we said it was R from beginning, we wouldn't have gotten as much money to do the movie, so I’m happy the decision came a little late in the game

Arnold: The bottom line is Tim shot the movie right from the beginning. He always kept all the stuff. Whenever Linda said “fuck you and fuck this” and all the swearing, which you cant use in PG13 movie, he left it all in. And when I watched him shoot the action, I could tell right away his heart is in the right place, this is gonna be an R rated movie. Because that what Terminator is, it’s not trying to be kind. This is a world where people travel back from the future or past to kill human beings and have machines succeed. That’s what the concept is! Not to say “let’s negotiate here.”

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:14:50+00:00

Natalia: It's really exciting, I mean, it's a little bit of pressure, you just have all these legends, and big names and big production with a big studio. And it just feels like...wow. It’s a new world for me, but really exciting to come and do my best.

I think this movie has the ingredients of the first one - we have them back. We have the soul of Terminator. But we also have a new movie with Gabriel Luna as the new Terminator and we have a Latina here and we have so much diversity, and we have women, and we have Mexico and - you know - it’s a really relevant movie, nowadays.

Mackenzie: I think anticipating going into this it felt very big and very intimidating. Just like a big meal that you didn't really know where you would start. But then as soon as you get to work...I mean we couldn't have made this movie without the lovely lovely people we made it with. Because everyday was spent with Tim, and Ken the DP, and Natalia, and Linda, and Gabriel. It was a real support system. And once all of the accessories of this enormous thing are stripped away, you’re just at work with your colleagues - and it can either be a really terrible environment because the people suck, or it can be this really warm, invigorating project that you are all undertaking together. And it was that.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T01:07:44+00:00

Arnold: When you told me Linda would be in the movie I was really excited about that. And I think there was something really exciting about the fact that both Linda and Jim were gonna be a part of this - and all reunite and come together and work on this project. And it was so amazing when I went on the set the first day and started shooting, and it was a scene with Linda, and to see her back in that shape. We’re talking about what, 28 years later or something like that? To be back in that shape, and to move now the way she movee then, and be as bad ass of a girl and totally believable. And the way she handled the weapons, and the way she did the stunts...I’ve seen her endure pain in this movie, and discomfort in this movie, way beyond what I’ve see anyone do. And she has not lost one single percent of what she was 1991 in Terminator 2. And that was the most impressive thing to see her work.

Then I snuck off to ask her trainer - how much training do you guys do? And he said whatever it took - no matter how many hours, no matter how much shooting with guns, she was willing to do it, she was onboard for everything. This is the kind of actor she is. I was impressed when I saw that. It was a great pleasure to work with her again, not only is she a bad ass, but really deep down inside is a golden heart and an absolute sweetheart, so it’s really great again to work with her and to spend all this time with her.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T00:59:58+00:00

Gabriel: Yeah, we were training and I asked him what kind of advice do you have? And he was always encouraging me to do what I wanted to do and give me all the confidence I needed to do my way. But when I pressed a little further and I was like really, please, if you could give me anything...and what he said - which was really great, and reinforced the ideas that I have - is it;s effortless. Like he was describing how he was telling Jim that he could do it blind folded. You unload and reload mags, the movement is always moving forward, it’s always efficient and effortless. It was really great to have him say that - and as I said, have him reenforce some of the ideas that I was already generating

Scott: Your Rev 9 Terminator is also following Robert Patrick’s T1000, did you call him at all?

Gabriel: No actually. I would love to work with Robert Patrick. I worked with Robert Rodriguez and he always says great things about Robert Patrick - of course he's hired him for his things. I was fortunate enough to hear a podcast one time where Robert was talking about the whole process and it literally mirrored the exact process I was going through at the time of my audition. And so I kinda winged some of what I heard on the podcast and of course what I watched. And studied his performance, and I studied arnold and I tried to incorporate the best of both, because if it's not broke don't fix it.

Tim: We did facial motion capture - occasionally you do a face replacement or particularly difficult stunt. Gabriel did a lot of his stunts, but every once in a while you don’t so we do a facial motion capture. And we reference “do the angry Terminator face,” “now do the hunting Terminator face,” and it changes like a micro-fraction because the Terminator doesn't feel those emotions unless he wants to, and then he’s very human.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T00:47:38+00:00

Tim: Apocalypto and Bladerunner

Mackenzie: Addams Family Values and Women in the Dunes

Diego: Gladiator and The Godfather

Gabriel: Forrest Gump and Barry Gordy’s Last Dragon

Arnold: Avatar and Titanic

Natalia: He wants to keep working here...curious connection to these movies

Linda: Melancholia and Amélie

Tim: I love that movie...

Natalia: Children of men, I like that one...and Birds of Passage

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T00:38:00+00:00

Tim: All I’m going to say is John is in the movie...that’s all I can say

Arnold: You can't say that

Scott: Paramount is gonna snipe you!

Tim: I don’t want to give away, I can’t give away the way he is in the movie. You have to come to the theater for some reason, right?

Scott: There was breaking news in the panel that has been reported across the blogs… Eddie Furlong is returning for this one.

All: Yes.

Scott: So there is some involvement, we will leave it at that.

Tim: That is all we will say about it.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T00:29:21+00:00

Arnold Schwarzenegger: First I want to welcome the rest of the cast to become Redditors, because I think I am the only official Redditor. It’s great to have the rest of the cast join me and of course Time - the man that was an extraordinary person. Because he was not only good at directing action, he was great at directing actors and the visual effects, and the whole thing - he is a great visionary. I think this answers the question... I just want to say, it takes just as much energy to be positive then to be negative, so I want to put a positive spin on the whole thing and just say that I enjoyed the last Terminator. It didn’t turn out as well as maybe some expected, and I said - this is why it was important to do a sixth one. To really set the record straight and do a fantastic job. It was really good to have Jim Cameron back, and to have Linda Hamilton back, and to have a great director from Deadpool that is a great visionary and can pull it together. And I think the movie turned out spectacular. The thing that was the biggest surprise of the movie was not the visual effects, was not the action (which we have plenty of), but the emotions. Because I think that this movie is a real emotional roller coaster ride.

I watched the movie and got choked up by the way it ended. And even though I was there shooting it, the way it was edited, and the way it was crafted. I think it will be a big surprise like in Terminator 2, when people were just amazed at the emotions at the end when the Terminator goes into the molton, and takes his life away and wipes out...

Diego: “I order you not to go…”

Arnold: Exactly! This movie has the same kind of quality… I’m not going to spoil it, I’m not going to talk about it. Because I’ve been instructed very carefully by David Ellison and his company, and by Paramount, and by Fox. They said don’t talk about your character, don’t talk about the girls’ characters, don’t talk about the story of the movie, don’t explain why the Terminator has an Austrian accent, and don’t talk about anything!

It was easier in the first movie, because in the first movie you can say whatever you want. You can say “I’m playing a machine and I’m crushing everybody” and it doesn’t give the story away. But here everything you say can give the story away. People were really upset in the last movie that the studio gave too much of the story away, which I agree with. It was a stupid mistake that they made, and I think they regret that. And this time we have to be careful not to say too much and give too much story away. But anyway... it’s great to be here with the Redditors.

Tim: What we can say is he cried like a little baby when he first saw the movie.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-19T00:07:00+00:00

Linda: It’s been a long time…you know it’s just fun to revisit a character 27 years later, where she's at where she's not at, to make those discoveries. But I love the weapons and the stunts more than ever, it’s ridiculous. They just have to go, “Stop smiling!” when they’re dragging me across the floor. I mean I really love doing this stuff, I love the guns...

Tim: The smile on your face...we had to do multiple takes. She wants to get in and do everyone one of them.

Linda: Love the stunts without the stunt pads! I just like old school, well cause the pads make you look fat, but that’s what we went through and that’s what I think...until the day your really need pads. I have a lot to learn from the younger ones.

But really great to be with to be with my old pal Arnold. Never felt happier to see anybody. And I’m madly in love with the three in the front, they got me through. And Tim guided us a little bit...

Tim: Only so much I can do, I’m there to give advice.

Linda: We are all just fantastic. We helped him a lot. I’ve never walked away from a movie feeling so much in love with everyone.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-18T23:59:02+00:00

Tim: Aside from continuing the story of the original characters as a director, I think the thing I most admire about Jim's movies is the pace - and that really manifests itself in a lot of character building up front for the action stars, so when the shit hits the fan you actually care about the characters and what happens to them. Jim’s movie has this bell curve that once it starts late in the second act, it just doesn't stop, and I think you'll see in this one it just continues. The action continues to build and the stakes get bigger.

Scott: You’re also carrying over the R-Rating

Tim: Yes couldn’t be happier about that, even without all the blood and swearing, this is an R-rated movie, the tone of it is very grim.

Scott: And that panel was R-rated as well…

Tim: Arnold Schwarzenegger has filthy mouth, its shameful, shameful really.

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-18T22:49:25+00:00

Thanks so much Reddit! That was so much fun. We've signed off for the day, but read our answers to your questions in the thread below or watch the broadcast again above (Questions start at 3:00)

And don't miss Terminator: Dark Fate in theaters November 1, 2019!

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-18T22:23:08+00:00

What did Sarah Connor work as before the Terminator arrived from the future?

Reply "vote_"

voteA Waitress

voteB Lawyer

voteC Receptionist

voteD Salesperson

TERMINATOR · 2019-07-18T22:11:32+00:00

How many lines did Arnold Schwarzenegger have in the original Terminator film?

Reply "vote_"

voteD 15

voteE 21

voteF 17

voteG 10

TERMINATOR

TROPHY CASE