NOT QUITE DEAD
Linda: Glad I lived thru filming latest ‘Terminator’
It’s a good thing Linda Hamilton didn’t say “Hasta la vista, baby” to the “Terminator” franchise.
The actress admits it was initially “daunting” to reprise her classic role of Sarah Connor in 2019’s “Terminator: Dark Fate” nearly three decades after she last played the character.
But she’s glad she did. “It was the hardest and the greatest experience I’ve ever had,” Hamilton, 63, told the Daily News on Tuesday.
The latest installment to the sci-fi series sees Hamilton’s character team up with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 Terminator and a cyberenhanced woman from the future to protect a new hero from a Rev-9 Terminator sent back in time to kill her.
“Playing Sarah again ultimately felt like slipping back into your favorite clothes,” Hamilton said, even though “It took me a while to get there.”
Training for the movie was rigorous but built up to
Hamilton’s epic first scene, which sees her fire multiple high-powered weapons at the Rev-9.
“When we got to that freeway scene, which is my introduction in the film, I was primed,” Hamilton said. “We rehearsed that sequence for hours and hours and hours and hours. Weeks and weeks beforehand, because I knew that it’s the first five minutes, ain’t it, where you grab them. Frankly, the year leading up to that was just, at times, really frustrating. I doubted myself. I went out crying into the desert saying ‘I can’t do it!’ when I was doing weapons training again.”
The film, which made more than $260 million at the box office after its release last November, is now available on Digital, Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD with extended and deleted scenes.
In addition to Hamilton, “Dark Fate” featured the return of James Cameron — the co-creator of the franchise and director of its first two movies — as a producer.
The movie picks up after his and Hamilton’s previous movie, 1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” and ignores the events of the thirdthrough-fifth films.
Ahead of its release, Cameron told the The News that he’d be interested in doing additional “Terminator” movies if “Dark Fate” did well.
Hamilton, meanwhile, said with a laugh that she doesn’t necessarily feel the same way.
“I’m not very results-oriented, quite frankly,” said Hamilton, who was married to Cameron from 1997 to 1999. “This was a lot and I love my work, but I feel like there are many other kinds of women to play, and I’ll go for that.
“Plus, it really cost me. My elbow and my left shoulder will never be the same, I’m afraid,” she continued with a chuckle. “It’s like, ‘Ow, God, why would I ever do that again?’ But the experience was mighty with my ladies and with [director] Tim Miller. I’ve never felt so close to the creative team in any job I’ve ever done.”