Tim Miller Knows How He’ll Win Over SDCC With Terminator: Dark Fate

Tim Miller spoke with Variety for a new interview ahead of San Diego Comic-Con about Terminator: Dark Fate and how he plans to win over Hall H. Highlights are below:

On how he plans to win over Hall H at SDCC: “If I was a nerd, and I am, I always imagine reading about plot or story and how I would feel as a fan. I can be objective that way, like I did with Deadpool. When I read online when we announced the film, Terminator 6? For f–k’s sake, why don’t they let it die?’ I understand where those people are coming from. If it’s not great, then we’ve had enough. After Deadpool there were a lot of projects I could’ve chosen, but I really wanted to see Linda Hamilton come back to personally continue her story as Sarah Connor. Like James Cameron, I always find stories about women are much more interesting than men picking up guns. Jim’s movies are grounded in reality and character and just happen to have time travel and robots. I’m wired the same way. I want to give the audience a story about Sarah and these new characters and make everything else as realistic as possible. I want to sit in the audience and believe that this s–t could happen to me. That’s how I’m approaching it.”

On Mackenzie Davis’ role i8n the film: “Before we brought in screenwriters, we did a room with novelists at my request because they’re world builders and we’re reinventing the franchise. One was Joe Abercrombie [the First Law series], who pointed out that the Terminator films tend to have a trinity of main characters. One of those is the protector, the Kyle Reese character. Joe came out with this idea that a new protector from the future is a machine fighter. It’s a painful life, and they’re scarred and take a lot of drugs to combat the pain of what’s been done to them. They don’t live a long time. It’s a very sacrificial role; they risk death to save others. And from the very first suggestion it was always a woman. We had to look for someone who has the physicality, but I’m very sensitive to actors. I didn’t just want a woman who could physically fit the role but emotionally as well. Mackenzie really wanted to do it; she came after the role. She worked harder than anybody.”

On the backlash against Davis’ character and how she’ll be received at SDCC: “If you’re at all enlightened, she’ll play like gangbusters. If you’re a closet misogynist, she’ll scare the f–k out of you, because she’s tough and strong but very feminine. We did not trade certain gender traits for others; she’s just very strong, and that frightens some dudes. You can see online the responses to some of the early s–t that’s out there, trolls on the internet. I don’t give a f–k.”

On how much feedback he got from James Cameron: “Jim has moved to New Zealand to focus on Avatar. I saw him a couple times when I got back from shooting, and I showed him a director’s cut. Jim will come in and provide clarity in key moments about the goals of the franchise. He’s great about looking at things and saying, “This needs to be reinforced.” He’s like a diver into a pool. He dives to the bottom, jumps out and the pool settles. Dives in again. He occasionally cannonballs. But it’s incredible.”