Biehn Here, Done That.

Michael Biehn takes the nuclear option, again.

He helped save Sarah Connor from nuclear armageddon in The Terminator, and now The Divide sees Michael Biehn again taking charge in the face of apocalypse. This time, though, he's no nice-guy heartthrob, but a nastier, more reclusive sort who only shares his post-nuke supplies after a group of tenants from his building power their way into his basement shelter just in time to avoid an. In real life, Biehn was frequently as intense as his character when he sat down with GCD to discuss The Divide, geopolitics, grindhouse cinema, toys and more.

GeekChicDaily: Seeing you in a nuclear-war movie makes us think of you as kind of the go-to guy for the apocalypse. Is that a coincidence, or do you gravitate to that subject matter?

Michael Biehn: Oh, I dunno. I think in this case [director] Xavier Gens was kind of a fanboy who grew up watching the Terminator and Alien movies, so when my name came up I think he jumped at the opportunity. You get kinda typecast a little bit as characters, and I guess as genres also.

GCD: Back in the '80s, it often felt like a nuclear war could easily happen tomorrow, whereas nowadays it seems a bit less likely. As an actor, is there a difference in preparing for that kind of mindset now?

MB: I think it's more likely to happen today than it was back then in '84. I look at the world today, and things are getting closer and closer. Iran and Pakistan and all these nuclear powers, Al Qaeda...I think we're closer than you think we are, and I'm a lot more scared now than I was 20 years ago. I'm scared for my children and my grandchildren, because I think something like this could happen very easily, even in my lifetime. The world is getting smaller and smaller, and there's so much hatred in the world. Look at what they did to Gadhafi - did you see the film on Youtube? The Bosnians and Serbs are still going apart, and what's going on in Sierra Leone, in Africa, it's just everywhere, you know? The Middle East is ready to blow up as far as I'm concerned. I'm scared to death, so I disagree with you that it's not as likely now.

GCD: Does that make it easier, then, to connect to this character's mindset now?

MB: Yeah, probably. I mean, this character is one that I created, really. Basically, Xavier was a completely different type of director. He said, "You can do anything you want. If you want to rewrite the character, rewrite the character. If you want to change the character, do improv, do whatever." So the Mickey that was in the original script doesn't bear any resemblance to the Mickey that was in the movie, who's a character that I created. He's a guy who basically survived 9-11. He went in there with a group of guys, firemen, and the building came down and he was the last man standing. Then he ended up with post-traumatic stress disorder, fell apart, started drinking, lost his wife and kids and basically turned into this racist recluse survivalist.

All the actors had the chance to rewrite - Michael (Eklund) hardly had a character in the script; all that came from him writing stuff and Xavier liking it. He did a tremendous job of creating a character out of nothing. And I'm just really proud of the movie because it shows that when you get a bunch of actors together and give them some freedom, you get a lot of great performances. I think it's the best ensemble group I've ever worked with, performance-wise. I look at Milo Ventimiglia's breakdown in the movie, and I think it's brilliant. There's not a false move in the movie.

GCD: Story-wise, did the characters know an attack was imminent? The backstory to the attack is left a mystery in the movie.

MB: Well, it was just like if it were happen to you right now. If all of a sudden you saw the flash right now, what would you do? If you knew there was a space downstairs that you could crawl into and maybe be safe for a while, that's what you would do.

GCD: So they were surprised?

MB: Absolutely. Maybe not Mickey as much, because he seemed to be prepared for it, but I think absolutely it came as a surprise. When it does happen - and it will happen - it will come to us as a surprise to whoever it happens to. Hopefully it won't be us, but it could be.

GCD: It says in the press kit that you all went on diets. How method did you get - were you actually eating cans of beans like in the movie?

MB: I didn't go on any diets, because my character had a stash of food. They all lost 10-15 pounds, and there were a lot of angry people, because of all the improvising, people taking scenes away from other people; there was a lot of animosity, a lot of anger on the set. Actors didn't like each other. I've worked with William Friedkin, James Cameron and Michael Bay, and this set had more tension on it than any set I've ever worked on. Producers had to be continually called in to break up fights between actors, because somebody thought scenes were being stolen from them.

GCD: That fits the subject matter, though - was any of it by design?

MB: I think it was by design. Xavier pitted the actors against each other. He would bring in an actor who thought they were gonna shoot their big scene that day, and somebody else would do improv or something, and he'd go, "Oh, I think this is more important, let's shoot that." Which would piss off the actor. I think it was all done by Xavier to get the actors fighting with each other, which he did successfully; he had actors hating each other. But my character Mickey didn't take sides.

GCD: Without spoiling too much, there's room to tell more of this story - would you do a sequel?

MB: Of course, if it had Xavier involved in it. And it would depend on the script. I guess we'll have to see how well it does. If it makes $100 million, then I'm sure they'll find some way to bring me back.

GCD: Is there any chance we might see you in the Avatar sequels?

MB: You'd have to ask [James Cameron] about that. I was up for the role that Stephen Lang played, and Jim and I talked about that role for 8 or 10 months. But he decided to go with Sigourney Weaver for a role in that movie, and once he did that he thought it would be too much like Hicks and Ripley, and he didn't want people to be reminded of that. So he cast Stephen, a friend of mine who was in Tombstone and a great actor. I was really happy that if I didn't get the role, he would. Who knows even when that's gonna happen? The last movie (Cameron) did was ten years ago. Would I work with Jim Cameron again? Yes, in a second. I would take a bullet for Jim Cameron. He's responsible for why I'm sitting here talking to you, and he's responsible for why my kids went to college.

GCD: We're finally seeing toys based on the first Terminator movie. Has NECA contacted you about doing Reese? He's the one major character that's never been done as a toy.

MB: Nobody's contacted me about it, but of course I'd be happy to do it if there were dollar signs connected to it!

GCD: Did Anton Yelchin talk to you at all when he took over the role?

MB: No, he didn't. I heard he worked very hard and was very good. But, you know, you had T1 and T2, and that's Jim Cameron. You don't follow Jim Cameron. You just don't. You can't. I quit watching them after that, so I didn't even see it.

GCD: You've done so many military roles - have you had to do any military training? Do guys in uniform come up to you and critique your performances?

MB: Well, first of all, I'm not even sure if I would have made the grade in the military. I've never been in the military. I try to gain all the knowledge that I can from people who are - Special Forces, Navy SEALs, those type of people. I know a lot of them and I pick their brains about the ways things should be performed. I want to depict them the way they really would be. I usually get military guys, cops, firemen, DEAs...those are the guys that come up and pat me on the back and say "I love your work!"

GCD: So in a situation like The Divide, how long would Michael Biehn the actor last?

MB: With that group of guys? I think I could've held my own, but Milo would be the alpha dog in that group. Milo's a former wrestler and a strong guy. And Michael's younger than me. I probably would be third in line. Yeah, Michael could probably take me down. He's pretty wiry. I'd be third dog down.

GCD: What have you got coming up next?

MB: I just directed a little movie called The Victim that got picked up by Anchor Bay. It's gonna be released on 50 college campuses and movie theaters. It's a grindhouse/exploitation movie. I didn't have any money, so I got my girlfriend to get naked, and I got Danielle Harris to get naked for me. And since I didn't have any money to do zombies or special effects, I decided to do a little bit of action, a little bit of torture, dirty cops, and then I thought screw it, I'll throw in a serial killer. I wrote it in three weeks and we rolled into a 12-day shoot. We've shown it about 15 times, and gotten a great response. I was inspired by working with Robert Rodriguez on Grindhouse; I learned you could make a movie for a very small amount of money and just exploit things: people, women, violence.

It's basically the story of these two girls that are partying with two cops. They're using cocaine, they're strippers, and one of the cops is married. It looks like he's going to be sheriff, but he accidentally hurts one of the girls, and the other one sees what happens and runs off into the woods. They chase after her, they can't find her, and she ends up on my doorstep. I'm this recluse just living out in the woods and I don't want any trouble, so when she shows up and tells me her story, I tell her I don't want to get involved. All of a sudden the cops come to my front door, and it's me protecting her from them for the rest of the movie. It's like a little pulp-fiction thing. I think it's gonna start coming out in February.

The Divide opens today, in limited release.

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