Terminator Salvation: Facts, Implications, and Speculation

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on January 15, 2009

Because we’re so cool, we get invited to all the cool parties. And by that I mean once we find out where an event is taking place, we show up in rented tuxedos, invitations or not. Just last night I had the great pleasure of heading down to the Director’s Guild of America building and watching a presentation of Terminator: Salvation footage, hosted by none other than Joseph McGinty Nichol. Who? Oh – you probably know him as McG.

I’ll be bringing you a whole big run down of everything I heard and saw, but here are some facts and news tidbits that are just too good to wait or bury in another article. The One SPOILER will be BLACKED OUT for easy avoiding.

The Facts

• Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor voiceover: “It’s happening.” McG threw that question to a Warners rep, and that was his reply. Linda Hamilton is in. The VO will be along the lines of the tapes Sarah started recording in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

• The film is currently being edited at the Warner Bros lot for a Memorial Day release.

• Bale did tell McG to “Fuck off” until the script was rewritten to be read cold on stage. Bale and McG share an agent, which allowed the director to get in touch with the mega-star.

• The film does not feature time travel, but starts briefly in the present day, where we meet Sam Worthington’s character “Marcus Wright.”

*Highlight the text below for a Marcus Wright Spoiler*

• Marcus is a car thief along with his brother. A joyride goes wrong, resulting in the death of his brother and two police officers. Wright is sentenced to death and opts to apply for medical testing. Next time he wakes up is after the bombs have gone off, in about the year 2018. He has been turned into a cyborg, part man, part machine, but evidently his heart still beats.

• There are tons of variations of Terminators, many of which we haven’t seen. Ones we know for sure include: HunterKillers (flying ship like ones), MotoTerminators (motorcycle based), AeroTerminators (small flying Terminators), T600 (Giant “Russian Tank” humanoid Terminator), and HydroTerminators (aquatic based Terminators). Nearly all, if not all, were built practically for many scenes.

• Terminator 1, Terminator 2, and Terminator 3 are all canon, though most important are the original two films.

• Warner Bros told McG to “make the movie” and not worry about rating or run time. McG is not afraid of a PG-13 movie, citing The Dark Knight, but didn’t aim for one. The run-time will be around 2 hours, but it will not be a “self-indulgent” picture that reaches great length just because.

• The main crux of the film is characters “becoming” what they need to be. Young Kyle Reese must become the hardened soldier willing to sacrifice. Marcus Wright must become a better person. John Connor must become a leader. The Terminators must become more efficient killing machines.

• We will see SkyNet and the climax of the film will see a global effort to attack SkyNet and destroy it – and to rescue trapped humans who are being used to design the T-800, which will be a lifelike Terminator that will allow the machines to infiltrate humanity easily. One scene indicated John Connor was attempting to abort the entire assault or else “we will all die.”

The Implications

• The film couldn’t be shot on IMAX, but will be blown up to IMAX (a Warner Bros decision.)

• The original Terminator theme will be present, though it was implied that it may be changed somewhat and updated for the film.

• There will be sequels. McG and WB do not want to be presumptuous about it, but the stories exist for parts 2 and 3, and Bale was involved in the process of thinking about the future of the series.

• The sequel will involve time travel, which is not present in this film.

• Arnold was involved in the film and will watch it soon. They had to be “intelligent and sensitive” about his involvement.

The Speculations

• The T-800 will be based on Arnold Schwarzenegger. McG talked about wanting to honor the Governator and be respectful of his contributions to the film. He also said he can’t talk about what the T-800 will look like “without getting a boot in his ass.” It felt like a wink and nod to the T-800 being Speculation.

• Christian Bale is awesome, Michael Ironside is in this film and is awesome, and this film will be awesome.

There is a lot more to come, so be sure to check back in for a full, almost minute by minute break down of everything I saw.

How excited are you for Terminator Salvation now?

Read more articles by Robert Fure