Robert Patrick Recalls Feeling ‘Pressure’ Not to ‘Let Everybody Down’ in “Terminator 2, ”So He ‘Isolated’ Himself on Set (Exclusive)

‘Terminator 2’ first hit theaters in July 1991 and is celebrating it’s 35th anniversary

NEED TO KNOW

• In order to portray the T-1000 in Terminator 2, Robert Patrick tells PEOPLE that he had to bring an athlete’s mindset and intense focus to the physically demanding role
• The 67-year-old actor also reflected on his work with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and a young Edward Furlong
• The 35th-anniversary rerelease, presented by Fathom Entertainment, Rialto Pictures and STUDIOCANAL, hits theaters August 28–September 2

For Robert Patrick, playing the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day meant getting every detail right.

The role was intensely physical, and Patrick approached it with the mindset of an athlete, understanding that his performance had to fit into a much bigger machine involving director James Cameron, Stan Winston animatronics, CGI and motion capture.

With so much riding on the character and his career, Patrick became deeply focused on the work and spent much of his time on set staying in the mindset of the T-1000.

“I kind of felt like I was in my own little world,” Patrick tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I had my little island, and… I was very serious about this checklist that I had to do to maintain the T1000, so there wasn’t a lot of kidding around on my part.”

In order to maintain his checklist, Patrick treated the T-1000 almost like an athletic performance.

The character couldn’t simply look intimidating. Patrick had to establish a physical language for the character while also working within a production that was helping push visual effects forward.

“Obviously, the role’s very physical. It had a very physical demand. But there was, you know, a posture, a way to bring it all together,” Patrick explains. “There had to be a specific way I ran, a specific way I walked, a specific way I looked.”

Luckily, his athletic background helped him understand what was required. Patrick saw himself as one member of a team, with his performance playing a specific part in making the ambitious production work. That perspective also gave him a familiar way to process the pressure. He wasn’t just responsible for his own performance — he felt accountable to everyone around him.

“Trying to tie that all together…there was pressure that anybody on a team sport kind of feels, like, I can’t let everybody down, I gotta do my job, and I gotta do it really well,” Patrick admits.

That level of concentration naturally shaped how he spent his time on set.

He tells PEOPLE that music became part of that process, with industrial bands helping him maintain the mood he wanted for the T-1000.

“I sort of isolated myself and listened to a lot of industrial music, you know, Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, and sort of stayed focused on what I had to be,” he recalls. “So I wasn’t very social.”

Still, even while Patrick was operating in his own focused world, he was taking in the personalities around him.

Although Arnold Schwarzenegger was already a major star, Patrick remembers being struck by how approachable and encouraging he could be during their interactions.

“Arnold is an amazingly charismatic individual,” Patrick shares. “I was very impressed with him while we were working. He was a very warm, generous guy with compliments, the little bit of interaction I had with him.”

Linda Hamilton, however, brought a completely different intensity to the set. Her performance as Sarah Connor required her to go all in, and Patrick admired the commitment she brought to the role.

“Linda…She’s just a… full-on…balls to the walls kind of an actress, just going for everything,” Patrick laughs. “She really… did a great job playing crazy, and, you know, she was just amazing.”

Then there was Edward Furlong, who was only 13 when he was dropped into the enormous production.

“It was amazing to me how poised [Furlong] was for a [13]-year-old that was being thrust into this environment, because I was scared sh*tless, you know, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I hope they don’t fire me, I can’t believe this is happening.’ So I can only imagine what Eddie’s going through, you know,” Patrick admits. 

35 years after its original release, Terminator 2 remains one of the defining action and science-fiction films of its era.

The four-time Academy Award winner is returning to U.S. theaters August 28 through September 2 for its 35th anniversary, including August 29, the film’s famed “Judgment Day.” The rerelease, presented by Fathom Entertainment, Rialto Pictures and STUDIOCANAL, will screen in 4K and RealD 3D, with 4DX and DBOX premium formats also available, and tickets are on sale now.

For Patrick, revisiting the film also means looking back at the filmmaker who brought all of those complicated pieces together. “When people ask me about the film, James Cameron is a visionary, he’s an amazing, amazing, talent, and I’m just so fortunate that I had the opportunity to work with him,” he tells PEOPLE.

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