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Shortly before Terminator: Dark Fate was released in North America, Collider and ArcLight Cinemas hosted an early screening of the film to a packed audience in Hollywood. After the screening ended, director Tim Miller, director of photography Ken Seng, and Gabriel Luna sat down with me for an extended Q&A that ran over an hour.

During the wide-ranging conversation, they talked about how the story was figured out, why they did so much coverage, when they found out Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton were coming back, Easter eggs, the difference between making a $10 million movie versus a $200 million movie, deleted scenes, telling this story with three strong female roles, the most emotional parts of shooting this movie, putting together the awesome action sequences, and so much more.

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Image via Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions

Trust me, if you’re curious how Terminator: Dark Fate was made and how certain key decisions happened, you’re going to learn a lot watching this video.

As most of you know, Terminator: Dark Fate takes place after Terminator 2: Judgement Day and ignores all the other Terminator sequels. The film features the awesome return of Linda Hamilton as she teams up with Mackenzie Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger to protect Natalia Reyes from a new kind of Terminator (Luna). The film is a return to form for the franchise and you can read a lot of positive reactions here.

Check out what Tim Miller, Ken Seng, and Gabriel Luna had to say in the player above and below is everything we talked about.

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Image via Paramount Pictures

Finally, a huge thank you to Paramount Pictures for letting us screen the movie before it was released!

Tim Miller, Ken Seng, and Gabriel Luna:

  • Rob Liefeld (Deadpool creator) is spotted in the audience.
  • Who wins in a fight between the T-800 and Deadpool?
  • What drew Miller to this project?
  • Who was in the writer’s room and what did they come up with?
  • Do they know where the next two films will go?
  • When did they know that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton were coming back?
  • When they figured out that this would be a sequel to T2.
  • What’s the working relationship between director and cinematographer like?
  • What cameras did they use and why?
  • What lenses did they use?
  • On how much shooting plans change while on set.
  • How Miller fears he missed something great because he didn’t have time to see everything they shot.
  • terminator-dark-fate-tim-miller-ken-seng-gabriel-luna-interview-screening
    What’s it like for Luna the night before a camera test knowing he might be getting this role?
  • On what they saw in Luna for the villain.
  • Can a director know someone is right for a part just by looking at him/her?
  • What’s the last thing they cut from the movie before it was picture-locked?
  • Could an extended cut be coming to the Blu-Ray, or just deleted scenes?
  • On the difference between making a $10 million movie versus a $200 million movie.
  • They talk about the action sequences — conceiving them and making every moment purposeful.
  • On the most emotional parts of shooting this movie.
  • On telling a story with three strong female roles.
  • Are there any Easter eggs in the film?
  • Was there one sequence Miller kept going back to in the edit?
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    Image via Paramount Pictures
    They talk about the scenes set in the future, and if there were more planned.
  • Audience questions: 
  • What was it like for Luna to be part of the Terminator universe?
  • What was it like working with Arnold?
  • Do they want the Rev-9 to become a good guy or remain a villain?
  • Is there a franchise they’d like to work on next?
  • Watching the movie on the big screen, what about it are they most proud of?
  • Can they talk about the individual looks of the characters?
  • Since Skynet sent T-800s back to kill John Connor in a future that never happened, does that leave the door open for Arnold coming back in future installments?
  • What do the stunt players bring to the film?