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TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES
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Exclusive News : McG TALKS TERMINATOR: SALVATION AND HINTS AT A JOSH BROLIN-TYPE TO PLAY A NEW FOE
The director also discusses keeping the tone and style of the previous films, while still making it a “McG” film
By A.C. FERRANTE, Editor in Chief
Published 2/6/2008
LOCATION: Warner Bros.
THE SKINNY: Last night, the Warner Bros. Home Video division held a special event to discuss it’s upcoming 85th Anniversary celebration of the studio, trotting out such guests as Warren Beatty and Frank Sinatra’s children to highlight the very cool re-releases and restorations on the horizon. (Click Here for the full story).
For genre fans though, one of the coolest “special guests" was CHARLIE’S ANGELS director McG, who was introduced and spoke about living up to the heritage of Warner Bros. while also giving a tease about his new film TERMINATOR SALVATION: THE FUTURE BEGINS, the fourth in the popular sci-fi franchise.
“It’s very much in keeping what the studio has done with Batman,” explains McG to a receptive audience. “We’re respectful of the first pictures in creating a new language, while honoring the mythology, and I felt it would be a great time to play upon some of the [Isaac] Asimov ideas, some of the Phillip K. Dick ideas. It felt like a good time to tell a story about humanity and what it means to make us all human.”
After his introduction, iF Magazine was lucky enough to talk to McG directly at the event, and he filled us in on more details about the new film which will star Batman star Christian Bale as John Connor.
“We’re prepping the picture right now,” he tells iF. “The script is largely done enough that we’re able to prep off of it. Obviously we want to continue to work on it and punch it up and we’re hoping for an expedient finish to the writer’s strike. I have my fingers crossed, and we’ll see when we get there.”
With the new TV series TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES airing weely on Fox, and the first two James Cameron directed films and the Jonathan Mostow directed T3: RISE OF THE MACHINES, there is certainly a wealth of different timelines and mythology that has to be adhered to, but McG says this new film is very respective of what’s come before.
“It’s pretty tricky,” he admits. “There’s some fudges and liberties taken, from what Cameron did with the second picture and what Mostow did with the third. And the TV show, in the spirit of week in and week out episodic television, it has to take some license as well. We’re going to do what we can to respect the mythology, but there are indeed a coupleof timeline issues that speak to the idea of one version of a future, which was clearly articulated by [actor] Michael Biehn in the first picture. So away you go.”
That said, McG says, since the film is set so far into the future, the ramifications of T3 really don’t have to be addressed, since this film is clearly taking place long after the rise of the machines.
“This is post-judgement day,” says McG. “So there really is no continuation. It’s a new animal. The first two pictures were present day, where we were visited by Terminators from the future and this picture takes place in 2019, so it’s effectively ten years from now.”
As for the characters, McG says that the character of John Connor is a “major player” and he’s thrilled to have Christian Bale playing him.
“He’s the most talented actor of our generation,” he says. “The spirit of the film is that of a credible take on a serious piece of science fiction, that at its core, is a cautionary tale, about humanity sort of thumping its chest [saying], 'What can we do? We can build skyscrapers at Kalu Lampur, we can control the tides in the Scandanavian low lands, and aren’t we fantastic?’ All the while we’re destroying the planet and we will have mutually destroyed ourselves if our nukes ever got out of hand. So it’s a little bit of a cautionary [tale], subtexturally.”
The director also stresses it’s very important for him to “honor James Cameron” and what he contributed style-wise to the franchise he launched in 1984.
“I spoke to him for a long time,” says McG. “He was in New Zealand doing AVATAR, and he was very encouraging, saying ‘look, I was in the same spot, following Ridley Scott on the second ALIENS picture. ‘What are you doing it’s Ridley, it’s the production design language of Giger. It’s all these great things, but I wanted to be respectful of what was put forth but Ridley, but go in the direction where I can satisfy the hardcore fan, but also build upon what’s come before us.”
That said, McG wanted to follow the words of advice of Cameron for SALVATION and take a similar approach to his interpretation of Cameron.
“I would never be so bold to say we’re going to be successful, but we’re going to certainly do our best and we’re greatly protected by Christian Bale,” says McG.
As for additional casting, McG is still looking at different actors, but says Arnold Schwarzenegger left “very big shoes to fill,” since he won’t be a part of this new film.
“If you go back to the first picture, it’s such a decided difference what Arnold was doing on the first picture and the second and third picture,” explains McG. “Look what Robert Patrick did to get ready for his role. He’s a guy I adore him, I put him in every movie I’ve ever done, but it’s very difficult to say, because, it’s a decidedly masculine role and we live in a time, where a lot of actors are very effeminate and there’s a masculine component to the role and there are guys out there like Russell Crowe and Eric Bana who bring a good physicality and do what they do, but I don't know if they're exactly right at the end of the day. Josh Brolin is a very exciting actor, so we’ll see.”
Although McG wouldn’t elaborate, when the question came up if we might see more than one type of new terminator, he didn’t veto the idea, but he would say the film would be about the development of the Arnold model T-800.
“It’s got a lot to do with the coming of T-800, so we see a lot of the research and development,” says McG. “It’s the equivalent of seeing some of the airplane designs on the table that won’t be in the air for a few more years.”
And since the director is buddies with Robert Patrick, would he consider giving him a cameo in the film?
“There will be a suggestion of the liquid metal development and a suggestion of the T-800 development,” says McG. “It’s going to be a tip of the hat. We’re undecided if there’s going to be an actual appearance.”
For McG talking about the TV shows he executive produces - SUPERNATURAL and CHUCK - Click Here.
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Reader Comments
Alex Mocaby from Mount Vernon, Illinois sez....
In a way, I want Robert Patrick in the movie, but in another way, I hope he's unavailable for filming because he's doing the X-files 2. ;)
2/20/2008 8:52:50 PM
Laura Cap from Oak Ridge, TN sez....
C'mon, put Robert Patrick in the movie. He could be a scientist. The original T-2 model could have been designed in his father's/grandfather's (depending how far in the future) image. It would be great.
2/6/2008 12:32:24 PM
