Arnold Schwarzenegger plays taiko drums with Terminator: Dark Fate cast at Tokyo premiere

Rev-9 and the T-800 beat drums in traditional happi coats under a giant Godzilla in Japan.

Tokyo has had some high-profile celebrity visitors over the past few months, with everyone from Will Smith to Angelina Jolie and Keanu Reeves in town to promote their new Hollywood blockbusters. The latest star to grace the red carpet in Tokyo is none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger, accompanied by the cast of Terminator: Dark Fate, which has been retitled Terminator: New Fate for its Japanese release.

The red carpet event was held last night in Shinjuku’s lively Kabukicho district, underneath the giant Godzilla that peers out from the terrace of Hotel Gracery. As we wondered what a Terminator v Godzilla movie would look like, the stars began to appear in front of us, starting with Natalia Reyes who plays Daniella “Dani” Ramos, the woman targeted for termination by the new Terminator prototype Rev-9.

Mackenzie Davis, who plays Grace, a cyborg with Terminator-sensing abilities, looked gorgeous in a black one-shoulder dress.

Then a flash of red came down the aisle, as the advanced Terminator prototype Rev-9 was spotted in the vicinity.

Thankfully, Gabriel Luna, who plays Rev-9, left his character’s endoskeleton on the film set, opting for a bright red Boss suit instead.

▼ Look at him mimicking human emotions!

The director of the film, Tim Miller — who made his feature-film directing debut with 2016’s Deadpool — was also in Tokyo for the premiere.

▼ He and his wife stopped to gaze up at Godzilla as they made their way down the red carpet.

Fans went crazy for Linda Hamilton when she arrived at the event, asking her to sign autographs and pose for selfies. The love from fans overwhelmed the star, who could be seen wiping tears from her eyes while she posed for the media.

Hamilton, who reprises her role as Sarah Connor in the film, looked radiant in a fitted black velvet dress with Asian design details.

Hamilton enjoyed every second of the event, warmly embracing Reyes as they passed each other on the red carpet.

Then the man everyone had been waiting for appeared, signing autographs for fans who haven’t seen him in Japan since his last visit in 2015.

▼ Dressed in a suit and Adidas sneakers, Arnie was finally back in Tokyo.

The 72-year-old actor, who first appeared as the Terminator 35 years ago, displayed the swagger of a suave star and the stature of a savvy ex-governor as he gave our cameras the thumbs up.

He also had the chance to meet up with 71-year-old Tessho Genda, the voice actor who’s been dubbing Schwarzenegger’s movie roles for Japanese audiences since the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian.

▼ The stars looked happy to be on the red carpet in Tokyo.

The easy rapport between Hamilton and Schwarzenegger, who’ve known each other for over three decades, delighted everyone in the crowd, especially when Schwarzenegger’s banter kept the group from posing for the cameras.

Schwarzenegger then beckoned for his assistant to hand him his phone so he could share the red carpet moment with his 18.6 million followers on Instagram.

On his stories, Schwarzenegger could be heard saying, “We’re here at the premiere in Tokyo, New Fate that’s what they call the movie here. I mean, look at this — excitement in a bag. Oh man, look at this.”

He then zoomed into Hamilton, saying: “And then look who we have here, look at this, look who we have here – the queen.”

▼ And look who we have here on Arnie’s phone case: himself as John Matrix in Commando.

▼ That deserves two thumbs-up.

Tokyo knows how to pull out all the stops for Hollywood visitors, treating them to special Japanese experiences, and for the Terminator: Dark Fate premiere, the stage had been set up with Japanese taiko drums.

After a short performance of the theme song by the drum group, the stars appeared on stage to address the crowd.

Schwarzenegger kicked off the proceedings by saying:

“Hello everybody. It is wonderful to be back in Tokyo. The last time I was here I said, ‘I’ll be back’, well I am back!”

He went on to say:

“And I love the Japanese fans — you have been fantastic, you’ve gone to every movie, you’ve seen every one of my movies. It is so wonderful to be back here because let me tell you something, without you fans we don’t have a movie. So you are the most important thing. Thank you very much for being loyal fans.”

▼ He ended his comments with “Arigatou“.

Hamilton then said:

“Konnichi wa. I am so happy to be here. I have never seen anything as impressive and as Hollywood as this is right now. It’s very surreal. 
We worked bloody hard, every single one of us on this stage, to make this movie. We couldn’t have done it without each other. There is so much love right here, between all of us, and I hope that that conveys on to the screen.
Aside from the action and the comedy in there, there is so much emotion and strength and amazing performances and I was just totally stricken with love and duty and I was impressed every day by my talent around me and I think each of us elevated the next one to do our very very best for you.”

Davis followed with:

“Hello Japan, thank you so much for having us. I’ve waited my entire life to visit this country, there is nowhere I’ve wanted to come to more, and I’m so thankful that I get to do so with this movie and with this group of people, it’s just been the honour of my life to be a part of this film and work with this cast, and with our director, Tim Miller, and I think we created something really really special and exciting and explosive but really beautiful as well. So I can’t wait for you all to see it and thank you so much for having us in your country. Arigatou gozaimasu.”

Then it was Luna’s time to address the crowd, saying:

“Konnichi wa, Tokyo! Very much like my co-star and friend Mackenzie, this has been a dream of mine for my entire life. I had a list of everywhere I wanted to go, and Tokyo, Japan, was at the very top. And I can tell you with complete certainty, that it has far exceeded everything I could’ve imagined, so thank you.”

Reyes then said:

“Konnichi wa, Japan. I’m so glad to be here. I want you to know that this moment, right here and right now, will stay in our memory forever. Thank you for feeling our hearts. You have a mission, because we have a mission. We want the world to see this movie. We made it with all our hearts, and we really want you all to see it, so this Friday, November 8th, you go to the movies, you bring your friends, and please enjoy this movie; we made it with so much love. Arigatou gozaimasu.”

Director Miller was full of praise for Japan and Japanese fans, saying:

“Hello Tokyo! We are so happy to be here, thank you so much for this warm welcome. I gotta say, this was one of my favourite premieres, as we travel around the world, because it’s clear that we have so many true fans of the franchise here, I think that’s because, as we walk around Tokyo — this is the second time I’ve been here, I f**kin’ love it — it’s like living in the future, and that’s why I feel like there’s so many Terminator fans here; science fiction is such a big part of the Japanese culture. I myself have been so influenced by Japanese culture and anime and manga, my shelves are full of Japanese artwork, and it influenced this film in a very big way. So thank you very much for your culture and what it gave to this film and I hope that this film gives something back to you. I know that if you see it you will love it, just like we love you.”

With the formalities out of the way, it was now time for the cast to have some fun with the drums, and each star was presented with their very own personalised happi jacket.

Luna’s jacket was emblazoned with “REV-9” on the left-hand side, while Schwarzenegger’s had “T-800” written on it.

The MC asked if anyone would like to try the drums, and Arnie graciously obliged, hitting the large o-daiko drum in time to the theme music of the movie, while his female co-stars looked on.

Seeing the original Terminator and the REV-9 hitting the opposite sides of an o-daiko drum was like some sort of glorious fever dream.

▼ And look at the back of those happi jackets!

▼ Schwarzenegger, Miller, and Luna all hit the beat of the theme on the drums to the delight of the crowd.

Asked what he thought of the drums after trying them, Schwarzenegger said:

“Ah, it’s fantastic. I mean, I still have to learn this but it’s really great; very entertaining, and you know, it’s such a theme that I’ve heard for the last 35 years — it’s great.”

▼ The group then happily posed for the media in their happi jackets.

After posing for the cameras, Schwarzenegger delivered the iconic line “I’ll be back” after a three-to-one countdown, which prompted confetti canons to go off on either side of the stage.

▼ With fanfare like this, we definitely hope Arnie will be back in Tokyo again soon.

Terminator: Dark Fate — or Terminator: New Fate, as it’s being called here — will be released in cinemas around Japan from 8 November.

With so many Terminator fans in Japan, the new movie looks set to be a hit with local audiences. Especially now that the Rev-9 Terminator is threatening to break out of the pillars at Shinjuku Station.

Photos © SoraNews24
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