Linda Hamilton makes return count in new ‘Terminator’ film
LOS ANGELES >> For the new “Terminator” film, it was seemingly easy to bring back Arnold Schwarzenegger as the human-looking cyborg assassin because of his devotion to the franchise. But having Linda Hamilton return as Sarah Connor was a tough er decision considering she’d already turned down a chance to reprise her iconic role.
It took Hamilton six weeks to decide whether she wanted to portray Connor, the waitress-turned-warrior who along with Schwarzenegger made the first two “Terminator” movies among the best action films ever made.
Her hesitation stemmed from the fear that a return as Connor in “Terminator: Dark Fate” might not live up to the hype of the earlier films.
“I was terrified,” she recalled. “I really didn’t want to disappoint Sarah Connor. That’s where I go when I’m terrified. You usually regret what you didn’t do. So I thought ,‘ If I’ m this terrified, then maybe that’ s the reason to do it.’”
Another convincing factor for Hamilton’s return was James Cameron, who directedthe first two films and would serve as a producer on “Dark Fate ,” which arrive sin theaters Friday. She passed on the opportunity to appear in2003’ s“Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” believing she had“completed the character’ s story” and because of
Cameron’s absence, calling him the“magic ingredient .”
Hamilton was concerned with “Dark Fate” messing with the legacy of the uber-popular “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” But she said Cameron’s emails from three years ago detailing the pros and cons of her playing Connor and his enthusiasm about the project helped put her at ease.
The new film ignores three of the franchise’s previous movies including 2015’s “Terminator: Genisys,” which fizzled with domestic audiences but had a strong turnout overseas. “Dark Fate” picks up soon after the events of “T2.”
This time, Connor and an augmented soldier named Grace, played by Mackenzie Davis, must protect a young Mexican girl Dani (Natalia Reyes) who is being hunted by a newly modified liquid Terminator from the future.
Hamilton says Connor still has a vengeful heart against Terminators, yet grudgingly reunites with Schwarzenegger, a timetraveling killing-machine who’s developed a conscience. Connor’s character is also not a fan of humans because “humankind builds machines that create their own death,” the actress said.
“Sarah has nothing else left, but vengeance,” Hamilton said. “She’s a woman without a country. She has no mission, no son; broken, dark, black heart.”
Schwarzenegger said the 63-year-old Hamilton brought some “freshness” back into the franchise.
“I thought that she set the bar really high again, just likes hedi din 1991,” Schwarzenegger said of Hamilton, who trained for a year to get in fighting shape. “Especially as a woman in her 60s now. There’s no action lady out there that I know of who’s in her 60s doing what she does. Only Cameron really has the (courage) to do something like that. But he always feels quite comfortable with those kinds of ideas, especially women action heroes.”