MOVIE NEWS – The villain of Terminator 2 forced himself not to blink to look even more robotic—and that was only one of the tricks he used to ramp up the fear factor. 34 years on, Judgment Day remains an all-time great, thanks in large part to the T-1000 and its actor, Robert Patrick.

The other day, when discussing Schwarzenegger’s weakest Terminator outing, it became clear there’s no argument about which film is the best: Judgment Day is, and probably always will be, the series’ high-water mark. Its perfect balance of action, sci-fi, and emotion, plus era-defining special effects and a shocking role reversal, mean James Cameron left little room for complaint. But one of the movie’s greatest masterstrokes is the T-1000—a new villain brought to life by Robert Patrick.

The T-1000’s ability to morph, copy anyone or anything of a similar size, and heal instantly after being riddled with bullets was genuinely terrifying. But all of that wouldn’t have worked without Patrick’s chilling, robotic performance. The T-1000 is pure machine—cold, ruthless, all efficiency, and zero emotion. That meant, for example, the liquid metal cyborg barely blinked throughout the film, something most humans do unconsciously. Patrick admits this was hard to pull off, especially in so many action scenes—but he nailed it.

“I trained four times a day and really got into it physically. I was like a sprinter: I’d focus my eyes on a target and concentrate so I wouldn’t waste energy. When I finished, I’d clench my jaw, breathe only through my nose, and keep my face expressionless, because the character wasn’t supposed to show any tension.” the actor recalled in a MovieWeb interview.

That physical training paid off: “In the first big chase we shot at the mall before I got in the truck, I actually caught John Connor. I thought, ‘What the hell do I do now?’ And Jim said, ‘Oh my God! How fast can you go?’ And I said I didn’t know. So they sped up the dirt bike John was riding.”

He Mastered Shooting Without Blinking

Back to the blinking! In one of the film’s most iconic scenes, the T-1000 empties a full magazine at Schwarzenegger, then reloads instantly—never blinking, never flinching. “I spent a lot of time working with Harry Lu, the weapons master. Jim said I needed to be a pro at this. I had to practice pulling the trigger as quickly as possible, staring Arnold down, dropping the magazine without looking, and reloading in one smooth motion—all without ever blinking. I kept at it until I could do it naturally.”

Cameron revealed in a DVD extra that both the T-800 and T-1000 were specifically instructed to blink as little as possible, to look more inhuman—a deliberate artistic choice that Patrick executed to perfection.

So Robert Patrick learned to shoot, keep his target in sight, change magazines blindly, and, as a bonus, never blink. It was a monumental effort to make the T-1000 even more unsettling—and fans noticed. Judgment Day became a smash hit and, over 30 years later, still ranks among the best action films ever made. Want to revisit it? It’s on Netflix and Prime Video, and even pops up on TV now and then.

Source: 3djuegos