It’s been no secret that Terminator: Dark Fate had serious script problems; Linda Hamilton talked about how both she, and Mackenzie Davis, had problems with the script needing to be worked out, – previously Enrique Arce (Vicente “Papa” Ramos) also talked about how his dialogue was being delivered to him.
Back in 2018 Enrique Arce said:
“They also do not give us the script, they just pass us the paper that you have to say that day and then they pick it up. “
Enrique Arce told elnortedecastilla.es
Linda Hamilton divulged more of the messy sounding script scenario in an interview to promote the home release of Terminator: Dark Fate:
“Very much at times. The script wasn’t really finished when we started, and it was kind of coming along as we went along. And we all found that very hard to work that way. I heard too many people say, “Well, that’s how they make movies these days.” [Laughs.] It’s like, you know what? I need a beginning and a middle and an end. Link those moments together one by one; I’ve got to know where I’m coming from. And I would get a scene that had just been sent the night before and go, “Well, I can’t be saying that if they’re going to move that piece to onto the train top, because my character hasn’t learned it yet!” You know what I mean? Like, “Let’s make this something that is solid so that the actors can then work that way… We can’t wait until September for the script to be finished.” So, yeah.”
Linda Hamilton told A.V. Club
The story, direction and acting in Terminator: Dark Fate left a lot to be desired (for us anyway), the cast had proven they can act (very well) in previous projects – but with script problems like this… the end result becomes more… understandable.
James Cameron, at times, punching up the script the night before a shoot is more proof of how much chaos this production was in. How bad was the material that was sent over to Mr. Cameron before he made it remotely passable with his pen strokes?
Disallowing actors preparation time also sounds horrific, yes, pressure and acting go hand-in-hand but as Linda Hamilton said… “Well, that’s how they make movies these days.” This is not the kind of film-making we admire or expect.
An example of Linda Hamilton disagreeing with a scene…
“There were versions of the scene where we first meet the Terminator—when we meet [Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character] Carl —where they tried to flip it so that the Terminator is the one holding me as opposed to the girls holding me back. And we tried forever to make that work, but there was no way to get free of it, because I was never going to slump in defeat in his arms. I just was like, “Sarah Connor would die trying to fight her way out of this machine’s arms. I am not going to slump in defeat, so let’s find some other way to do it.” “
Linda Hamilton told A.V. Club
Sarah Connor collapsing like a wreck into the arms of a T-800? Ridiculous.
Actors shouldn’t have to work out a way to reword and reshape scenes because they feel that their characters are being misrepresented by a script which has been cobbled together by eight writers with differing opinions (not to mention the handful of top-flight science fiction authors who either contributed via their physical presence or Skyped in). Yes, of course an actor should have input, especially someone like Linda Hamilton who knows her character like the back of her hand – but it very much sounds as though Linda’s two cents were an intervention of sorts.
Young Terminator body double Brett Azar previously told us at TheTerminatorFans.com that Linda Hamilton took control of the John Connor death scene as it was important for Sarah Connor to be reflected in a manner which was true to the character…
Brett said…
“Linda Hamilton really took control of Sarah Connor’s reaction to that, because she was there for it, she wanted to see- like, she wanted to make sure that it was as intense enough to be believable for her, she was so… personal with that reaction of seeing John shot, and she wanted to make sure that it was done justice, so she took control of that whole fight scene “
Brett Azar told TheTerminatorFans.com
This kind of input was great, whether you agree or not with the decision to kill young John Connor off, that kind of passion was greatly welcome but when time comes for another Terminator movie one day… we hope it has a solid script prepared long before the cameras roll.
What is also concerning is that Tim Miller and the previous Deadpool team were working on action set pieces (written by Miller) and stunts before people had been cast and long before a script had been completed…
Gabriel Luna said the following on Instagram:
“These are my first moments as the Rev-9. Months before I got the gig. Before I completely changed my body with strength training and gained 16 lbs of muscle. Before I ever read a word of the script and had no idea what the Rev-9 was capable of, I was called in by the stunt team for an assessment. Here is @jimmychhiu and I working out some fight choreo that would eventually become “the factory fight””
Gabriel Luna
At the end of the day – what can we expect from a movie that was built around action set-pieces written by Tim Miller before a coherent story had even been constructed?
Should it not be the other way around, should the action not fit the story first?
All of the above sounds slap-dash and it might fit a business model of throwing a quick product out to fans, but a lot of fans expected much better from a movie that proclaimed itself to be the true sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
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