Tim Miller on ‘Terminator’ box office woes: “I’m processing, but I’m very proud of the movie” (original) (raw)

Most filmmakers hide for a while after a bomb, but not "Terminator: Dark Fate" director Tim Miller.

Miller thought it was a dream come true when he got a chance to direct a new Terminator movie with James Cameron as a producer. Then he actually had to make the movie. After dealing with script troubles, a difficult shoot, and intense disagreements on the final edit, Miller watched as "Terminator: Dark Fate" met a dark fate at the box office.

Following his movie’s disappointing opening, we ask him whether he thought he would ever work with producer James Cameron again.

“No,” Miller says. “But it has nothing to do with whatever trauma I have from the experience. 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.”

Miller talks us through that trauma and tries to figure out why audiences were not saying “I’ll be back” for another Terminator movie. He also tells us about the shock of waking up the morning of his film’s premiere to find fires ravaging Southern California, and how he managed to pull a screening together after Paramount had to cancel the official premiere because of those fires.

As an interesting side note: regular listeners might remember that Simon Kinberg, a producer on Miller’s movie "Deadpool," did an interview with The Business in June after his directorial debut, the X-Men movie "Dark Phoenix," flopped resoundingly. Miller was impressed by how Kinberg tackled the issue. Perhaps strangely, Miller and Kinberg came on the show together in 2016 to promote "Deadpool."