Terminator: Dark Fate Interview – Diego Boneta On Joining The Terminator Canon And Working With The Greats

Diego Boneta stars in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures’ “TERMINATOR: DARK FATE.”

We live in an age of legacy franchises. Film series that we all would have thought would be done by now are getting revived, not the least of which is the Terminator franchise. After a few subpar films, James Cameron is back as producer, and bringing with him a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Of course, in addition to the returning cast, we also have newcomers such as Diego Boneta, who plays Diego Ramos in the film. LRM Online had a chance to speak with Boneta in-person to discuss his part in the movie and what it was like to work with the likes of director Tim Miller.

Terminator: Dark Fate hits theaters tonight!

LRM Online: Okay. I’m very fortunate to have you and be sitting here, I have to say. I’m a fan. I am a fan. But most of us here do know you from Rock of Ages. But tell me, we’re talking about Terminator: Dark Fate. So tell me how Terminator was in your childhood growing up.

Boneta: I remember we’re watching T2 as a kid and being mesmerized by the effects and blown away, I’d be like, “What?” Especially being a kid, right? When I got the movie and I re-watched T1 and T2, I realized why a lot of cinephiles say that these are some of the best Sci-Fi action movies ever. Right?

And then you start going, “Wow, James Cameron is a genius.” He was able to, yeah, the effects, technology, it’s always going to keep on getting better and better. You don’t watch these movies for the effects, you watch them because of the characters and the storyline, and how they make you feel.

LRM Online: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Boneta: And I think this is why this one’s so special. It’s not the 19th Terminator. There’s been so many.

LRM Online: Right.

Boneta: Right? No, it’s the continuation of T2, with James Cameron back. Linda, back. And Arnold. That’s the OG team. That’s what made those movies great. And it’s this being told with a new vision of Tim Miller, who’s the coolest and hottest director right now after Deadpool. VFX are his wheel house. It’s a solid team. So being able to be a part of that is really an honor. I try not to think about that much when I was shooting it because you freeze.

LRM Online: Blown away.

Boneta: Blown away. But now, I still haven’t seen the movie because I refuse to watch it, because I want to wait. I want to watch it at the premiere tomorrow, with my family, with IMAX screen, effects, everything.

LRM Online: That’s how I saw it. That’s great.

Boneta: And I think that’s because I’d go watch this movie. If I wasn’t in it, I’d go watch it, just because it’s James Cameron back with Linda and Tim.

LRM Online: So how did you get involved in this?

Boneta: I auditioned, went through many hoops. I was doing Luis Miguel for Netflix. It was hilarious was when I auditioned, Tim was like, “That’s not Diego. What?” He was looking at me and the casting director, I was like, “No, no, no! It’s me, but I play Luis Miguel!” Because I was all tan, had the gap, the hair, which is super funny.

And then I had to go to Dublin for the screen test. It was probably three or four months of going through, next phase, the next phase, the next phase, next phase. And as an actor, you go through that a lot, and many times you’re this close and it falls through.

LRM Online: Yeah.

Boneta: And this time, it came through and I’m really happy it did.

LRM Online: So for those that obviously haven’t seen the film, just like you, can you tell us about your character?

Boneta: My character’s name is Diego Ramos. I’m also Diego, that’s why it’s a bit confusing. He’s Dani’s older brother, they’re both from Mexico City, the Ramos family. I love the fact that it opens in Mexico City, which is where Sarah goes at the end of T2. And he’s a very complete opposite to me. He’s carefree, has no goals in life, he just goes with the flow. Super fun, lighthearted good guy. He’s funny, and it was fun to be able to be in this guy’s shoes, because he’s so light and so carefree and loves his sister to death.

LRM Online: Now let’s talk a little about the film. There’s a scene where you’re involved in a car chase. How was that experience filming that?

Boneta: That was insane. We shot that for three weeks in the south of Spain, 115 degrees out with the pavement, it made it like a sauna in a pickup truck with no AC. And flies everywhere. I think all the budget CGI went to taking out the flies for that sequence, I’m serious. It was a fly infested highway.

And we were shooting seconds a day. Nothing. Because Tim wanted it to be perfect, and when you have a movie with this budget, I guess you can do that. It was insane green-screen, and there was this technology with this guy that literally created that for this movie, where you could attach a cart with a professional driver, to any part of the pickup truck. So for the scenes where we were in reverse, the cart would be attached, and he would be the one driving. McKenzie would be pretending she was driving. So that technology was insane to witness. It was like you could literally attach that little cart to any part of the vehicle, and that would drive it.

LRM Online: Wow.

Boneta: Which was so cool.

LRM Online: What was your experience working with Tim Miller?

Boneta: Loved him. He’s a man of the people, great leader, down to earth. Does not have the Hollywood director personality. I mean that in the best way possible. Because he’s so grounded and really just like, “I get to do this for a living, this is great.” He’s so down to earth.

LRM Online: What’s the one thing that you’re going to be taking away from this experience of being a part now of the Terminator?

Boneta: Just being able to learn from Tim and Linda and Arnold, and traveling the world for this press junket has been insane. Going to China, we just went China two days ago in Beijing.

LRM Online: I saw, yeah.

Boneta: It was just so cool, and hopefully this opens more doors in the action world, that I love it.

LRM Online: What has been your experience in doing press, and with the whole gang?

Boneta: It’s been great. We were started in Mexico City, which I loved, because we didn’t shoot in Mexico, even though the movie takes place there, my hometown. And it’s been great. It’s been tiring, we’ve been doing a lot of traveling and long days, in different time zones all over the world and a lot of flights. But it’s not often that you get to do a movie like this.

LRM Online: So do you have anything you can share that you might be working on here?

Boneta: I just wrapped a movie with Diane Keaton and Jeremy Irons called Love, Weddings and Other Disasters. I’m starting another movie called Die in a Gunfight, with Alexandra Daddario and Travis Fimmel. I have Monster Hunter coming out September 2020, a Sony movie with Milla Jovovich. And El Gato Negro, which is a show I’m producing and starring in for Apple, with Robert Rodriguez.

LRM Online: Oh, that’s great. So that’s more for Latin America? Or-

Boneta: It’s the first Latin superhero.

LRM Online: Oh, that is exciting.

Boneta: Yeah.

LRM Online: Oh. So are you working on anything that’s for Latin America?

Boneta: That’s going for both.

LRM Online: So that’s going to be both? Okay, okay. Okay, that’s exciting.

Boneta: Oh, and then for Latin America, I did a movie with Michel Franco, who’s a Cannes award-winning Mexican director, called Lo que algunos soñaron. Wrapped that already, should look into his stuff.

LRM Online: Who’d you work with?

Boneta: He’s amazing. Michel Franco directed it. Who else was in the movie? Dario Yazbek, who’s Gael Garcia’s brother.

LRM Online: That’s great. Well, thank you so much. And any chance there’s going to be more for the Luis Miguel series?

Boneta: We don’t know yet.

LRM Online: Unknown.

Boneta: I really hope we get some news soon.

LRM Online: You killed it, I have to say. You nailed it.

Boneta: Thank you.

Terminator: Dark Fate is in theaters now!

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