James Cameron on TERMINATOR: DARK FATE – “It Was Your Grandpa’s Terminator Movie”

Director James Cameron recently talked a little about Terminator: Dark Fate and why it may not have been as successful as it should have been. I really enjoyed the movie! It wasn’t the best in the franchise, but it was definitely the best Terminator movie since Terminator 2. Unfortunately, it didn’t do enough to resurrect the franchise, which is what everyone was hoping for.

Speaking to Deadline, Cameron reflected on why the film didn’t work, and one of the things is how he found himself at odds with the director Tim Miller. Their visions were not aligned with each other and the final product suffered. He said:

“I think I’m quite satisfied with the film. Tim and I have had our battles and we’ve both talked about it, but the crazy thing is we’re still friends. Which is weird. I liked him before the movie, I didn’t really like him during the movie, and I like him now, and I think he feels the same way. We’re both these crazy sci-fi geeks and we like a lot of the same things, and I love his show, Love, Death & Robots. But yeah, we collided.

One of the things they didn’t agree on was the casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Miller didn’t want to do the film with him and Cameron basically forced him to do it. He said:

“I think the problem, and I’ll wear it, is that I refused to do it without Arnold. Tim didn’t want Arnold, but I said, look, I don’t want him. Arnold and I have been friends for 40 years and I could hear it, and he was like, “Jim, I can’t believe you’re making a Terminator movie without me.” It just didn’t mean much to me to do it, but I said, if you guys could clearly see your way to bringing Arnold back and then, you know, I’d be happy to get involved.

So, Schwarzenegger was chosen! As for the carry Linda Hamilton playing Sarah Connor, it was Miller’s idea. This is where Cameron makes the amusing observation that Terminator: Dark Fate it’s your grandfather’s movie. He said:

“And then Tim wanted Linda. I think what happened is I think the movie could have survived with Linda, I think it could have survived with Arnold, but when you put Linda and Arnold into it and then, you know, she’s 60 and he’s 70-something, at the Suddenly it wasn’t your Terminator movie, it wasn’t even your father’s Terminator movie, it was your grandfather’s Terminator movie. And we have not seen it. We loved it, we thought it was cool, you know, that we were making this sort of direct sequel to a movie that came out in 1991. And the young audience that goes to the movies hasn’t been born. They wouldn’t even be born for another 10 years.

Miller previously said he would no longer work with Cameron due to the lack of control he had. He said, “I’m sure we could write a book about why it didn’t work. I’m not sure yet and am processing, but I’m very proud of the movie.” He added, “The things that they seemed to hate the most about the movie, were things that I can’t control. I can’t control that you didn’t like Genysis or that you felt betrayed by Terminator 4. I can’t help it.” He went on to explain: It’s more that I just don’t want to be in a situation again where I don’t have the control to do what I think is right.

What do you think of what Cameron said about Terminator: Dark Fate? Do you agree with his assessment?