Actor Linda Hamilton has revealed that she had a major clash with “Terminator” director James Cameron on set. Speaking with The Daily Beast, Hamilton said that the incident happened while filming the climactic sequence in the first “Terminator” film.
She had asked to see a playback of her performance, which apparently upset Cameron. Hamilton said that she wanted to check the scene because the machinery used in the film had “clipped” her throat.
“Jim was like, ‘We don’t have time for this, let’s move on,'” Hamilton recalled. “I went nuts… Like, ‘If you want to see a human being on that screen, you better start treating me like a human being!’ I mean, I completely went off.”
Hamilton likes to draw a clear distinction between herself and her onscreen alter ego Sarah Connor, but a bit of the character’s take-no-prisoners attitude apparently rubbed off on her during the confrontation with Cameron.
The two were able to mend fences and went on to collaborate on the much-lauded sequel “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”.
In addition to their professional relationship, Hamilton and Cameron also embarked on a seven-year romantic relationship. They eventually married in 1997, but split shortly after amid speculation that Cameron was having an affair.
The actor previously opened up about being “terribly mismatched as a couple” and how she believed Cameron fell in love with the character of Sarah Connor instead of her.
Hamilton has never remarried and candidly revealed that she has been celibate for at least 15 years during her break from acting.
In the same interview with The Daily Beast, Hamilton also remembered not seeing eye to eye with Cameron when it came to Sarah Connor’s hairstyle. Cameron wanted Hamilton to cut her hair short in the second “Terminator” film, while she advocated to keep it long.
“You don’t have to look like a guy to be strong,” she recalled telling him.
“For some reason I won that argument. It wasn’t even a vanity thing. And then later on, when she became this icon of strength and you know, the legend of Sarah Connor, I realized that it’s only because I didn’t cut my hair that she became what she did in the minds and hearts of the audience. That was a picture of feminine strength.”
Cameron and Hamilton share a daughter, Josephine, together. Cameron has gone on to have a successful career as a director, with films such as “Avatar” and “Titanic” under his belt.
Hamilton recently reprised her role as Sarah Connor in the latest “Terminator” film, “Terminator: Dark Fate”, which hit theaters this weekend.
In the film, Sarah Connor teams up with a new ally, a cyborg played by Mackenzie Davis, to protect a young girl from a newly-revamped version of the Terminator.
The film has received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising the action sequences and the return of Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, while others criticize the script and the lack of originality.
