With a career that spans over four decades, Linda Hamilton has gone on to establish herself as one of the most celebrated and loved actresses. Her acting career is filled with vibrant and dynamic roles in projects of different genres that showcase her versatility and range as an actress.
From drama to action, she can do it all, some of her most popular works include The Stone Boy, Weeds, Defiance, and many more. But her most renowned role is with the Terminator franchise as Sarah Connor.
Linda Hamilton’s portrayal of Sarah Connor in James Cameron’s Terminator franchise is immensely popular, as she showcased different sides of the character, and how she develops as the film progresses. The Chuck actress transitioned from an innocent waitress to a soldier fighting against the cyborgs. Her portrayal is iconic, but she was not as excited until she realized the film featured something different from the movies released back then.
Linda Hamilton Had Her Doubts When Cast As Sarah Connor
While it is impossible to imagine someone other than Linda Hamilton portraying the role of Sarah Connor in James Cameron’s Terminator franchise, turns out, the actress had her fair share of doubts. During an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hamilton shared that she was not thrilled when she bagged the role, as she dreamt of being “a Shakespearean actress.” But more importantly, she worried that the film would be a box office disaster.
“I was going to be a Shakespearean actress when I came out of the Strasberg studio in New York. And so I wasn’t as excited about The Terminator as my people were. Maybe I was a little snobby. I thought, ‘Oh, Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’m not sure about that.’ I was little nervous about whether all the pieces would fit together.”
However, she acknowledged all her doubts were cleared when she saw Arnold Schwarzenegger, the star of the franchise on the set of the film.
“Believe me, I did go to the set to check Arnold out. And I remember standing back and watching him and going, ‘Hmm, this might work.’ There was something so utterly robotic and terrifying about him. I realized that we were doing something new here, and all of the sudden I believed.”
The film did in fact extremely well at the box office, as it earned $78 million at the worldwide box office, becoming one of the highest-earning films of the year, and launching a multi-billion dollar franchise.
Linda Hamilton Lost Her Hearing After A Scene Went Terribly Wrong in Terminator 2
Terminator 2 is one of the finest sequels ever made, as it was full of action scenes, that would thrill the audience of any generation, keeping them at the edge of their seats. One of the key highlights of the film was Linda Hamilton’s performance in Terminator 2: Judgement Day was immensely popular, and many fans argue that her portrayal in the sequel was her best performance.
However, featuring so many action scenes in a film can often lead to accidents. Such was the case with the 1991 film, as it left Hamilton with an injury that she still suffers to the present day. In the elevator shootout scene, Sarah Connor and T-800 respond by firing shots at the evil T-1000, so that they can escape.
Unfortunately, between the takes, she forgot to put her earplugs back in. As a result, while shooting the scene, she took the full brunt of multiple shotgun and handgun blasts, which tend to be extremely loud. According to the Silent Fall actress, she still suffers from hearing loss in one of her ears, thankfully it’s not both of them. She was immensely dedicated because although none of the cast or crew members noticed her visible pain, she continued the scene as scripted.
The Terminator can be streamed on Max.
Source: EW
