Kristanna interview About.com

It's almost our one year anniversary of meeting Kristanna Loken on the set of Terminator 3. Not quite, but almost. Hard to believe we were there twice, and now the film is coming out in less than a month. Loken is beginning to make the press rounds, and we caught up with her at a local comic book/sci-fi show where she was promoting the movie, to do this interview about the film.

Loken looked different in casual jeans and a tank top, revealing a few tatoos on her human flesh. It wasn't the hard almost metalic look of full body leather and tightly pulled back hair from her film work. Let down, her hair went well past her shoulders, and if I get any more specific about her beauty, my girlfriend will kill me.

Nice to see you again. We visited on not your last day, but Arnold's last day while you were still shooting.

I actually was the first one to start the filming and the last one to leave, so everybody else was done.

The big question is we know terminators time travel in the nude, so how did you feel about your first nude scene?

Well, it isn't my first, but it was the last night, very last night of filming. It was originally supposed to be the first night but with location problems, whatever, ended up being the last night. I was glad that it was because I was really able to fine tune my body in the way that I wanted it to look. I did extensive training and through that worked with a nutritionist so I put on about 15 pounds of muscle mass. I actually was a lot bigger than I am now. So, I felt okay about it.

So, you were more concerned with the physicality than idea of being naked?

Yeah, I didn't really think about it about that. As the character, she doesn't have any concept of "Oh, I'm walking down the street nude." There's no reality of society or anything like that and what's right or wrong.

What was the training you did?

The training was extensive and pretty much towards the end I was doing a lot of cardio and a lot of weight training to really get a cut, kind of buff look and the diet was really very strict and regimented. The training that I did altogether was the nutritionist, the weight training. I did an Israeli form of martial arts called Krav Maga that they teach the military. I also did weapons training and I worked with a mime coach to kind of get the surreal nonhuman aspects of the character.

What were the toughest stunts to do?

A lot of sprinting and a lot of running. I did a lot of running and I actually trained for the sprinting at UCLA with my Krav Maga trainer, Wade Allen. He trained me in heels, so I was actually running in heels which is really difficult, but learning to stay on the balls of my feet to get more of a sprint-ier kind of run.

Did you have special heels?

I wore heels that you'd wear for dancing, like dance shoes.

What do you make of all the magazine covers and photo spreads of you?

It's wild. It's just starting to break now. I think Cannes was really the first taste of that. It feels right. It feels like I've put a lot of time and effort into my career and this is kind of payoff.

What were bad roles you got offered before T3?

Well, basically I took practically any job I could get. And I'm sure there's going to be a lot of stuff that's surfacing out there, but it's all part of it. It's all part of the learning process. I don't try to downplay any job or role that I ever had because I learned something from everything.

Are you prepared to be an action figure, like a toy?

I've seen pictures and yeah, it's wild. It's actually a pretty good likeness of me. I didn't think it would be.

There's a lot of actual machines in the film. How was working with them?

I guess the best way to put it would be that there was one shot that we had where basically, one scene where we had all the T1's that were working and all these kind of explosions and things going on. They basically said, "All right, Kristanna. You've got one shot. This is it." And it was very orchestrated with them all moving and everything going on, so you just tried to somehow, especially with my character, detach from what's actually happening and just focus on your target and just keep going forward. But it was fun to work with all of them.

What is that sequence?

It was towards the end of the film in CRS, one of the offices, and it was just complete mayhem. It's in an office type setting, but the T1s are there and things are blowing up and people are getting shot. There's me walking through the destruction.

What was the freeway chase like?

On the big crane? The chase sequence was wild. I spent a lot of time in this huge crane for hours on end. It was summer. It was 100 degrees. We were out in Downey. I'm in head to toe leather. It was hot. It was dirty. It was sweaty, but it was a lotta fun.

How many copies of the outfit did you have?

Tons. I had several different ones. I had the faux leather pants, I had the stretchy leather pants, I had the actual leather pants, I had the bigger jacket, I had the smaller jacket, I had the different size shoes with the different sized heals.

What's it like to beat up Arnold? In a word?

Empowering.

How about a few more words?

It was great to work off of his energy and watch him and learn a lot from him. He's so knowledgeable about the character and the fight sequences and what works and what doesn't work, so it was a really great learning process for me.

How was working with Stan Winston?

Stan's great. He's such a sweetheart. And his crew that are so talented in making different prosthetics and different pieces.

What pieces did he have to make for you?

Well, we did a full body cast of me after I got the job, so they could basically recreate me as a dummy, life size, that they use sometimes.

Was that a tedious process?

It was. Matching eye color and eye lashes and tinting. It was pretty wild and skin tone and that type of thing, so it was a lot of collaborating with Stan and his people and it was a fun process. It's pretty wild to see your actual self in 3D.

Do they apply any makeup to you?

Well, I always look flawless in the movie, so I didn't have any weird face prosthetics, or anything like that. It was pretty much the same all the time, pretty minimal.

But to portray your injuries?

Well, I don't actually get any injuries.

Ooh. Tough. Now, are you taller than Arnold?

No, he's a little bit taller than me, but I'm in heels, he's in boots, so it kind of evens out which is really good. For once, my height worked in my favor.

Have you started getting weird fanboy questions yet?

Yeah, I've had some interesting ones. Like what's my favorite robot? And if I was my favorite robot, what would I make for dinner? You get some really bizarre things.

How do you answer those questions?

Well, my favorite robot is easy. It's Rosie the maid on The Jetsons. She was so cool. She could do anything. I wanted her to be in my house.

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