The Terminator: The Franchise

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Possible Casting News...

Helena Bonham Carter is in talks to board McG's Terminator Salvation, the fourth installment in the franchise kicked off by James Cameron in 1984, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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Here is a first look at Christian Bale as John Connor in Terminator Salvation...



Let's hope he loses the over the top, "I need a throat lozenge" voice he had in Batman.

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Arnie Confused By New "Terminator"

Former Terminator turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger seems unsure about the next "Terminator" movie.

Talking with The Los Angeles Times, Schwarzenegger revealed he was given a private screening of early footage from "Terminator Salvation" by producers of the franchise reboot directed by McG.

Arnie says "I still don't know how it will play out with this one. They showed me some footage, but I don't have a feel for the movie. I didn't see enough. I wasn't sure who the Terminator was. I don't know if there is one or if he's the star or the hero. These are the things that determine the success and how the strong the movie will be."

Big special effects are what he thinks will lead to the film's success, saying that "If [director McG] has the T4 and the kind of shots that has the audience thinking, 'Now how did he do that?' -- then it is 'Terminator' and you can blow everyone away and every record at the box office."




He does however hope that those involved are successful - "I've seen very little footage so I don't really have a feel for it. I hope they do well, and I hope it is a huge hit. I do hope it creates a spectacle on the screen. That is what James Cameron created."

"Terminator Salvation" is currently being filmed in New Mexico.

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Sam Worthington On Terminator Salvation

At Comic Con we caught up with Sam Worthington to talk very briefly about his upcoming role in Terminator Salvation. One of the biggest detractors for fans is the fact its a remake and that McG was tapped to direct it. But when McG approached Sam about taking on the role it was not about McG it was about making the best movie possible. McG told him right up front its about making the best Terminator Movie possible and not about making a 'McG Movie'.

As far as his character goes he describes the character as the bridge that ties for alot of characters in the film franchise.

I look at this movie as what makes Kyle Reese Kyle Reese and what makes John Connor John Connor and my character’s almost like a bridge between them. I look at my character as a bridge to how they connect and how they grow. He’s a drifter.

Sam is also very modest about how important his role is to the overall film and how it looks. He puts the credit and the responsibility on the filmmakers to put the movie together and make it look good.

As an actor you sit there. It’s the other guy’s job to make it look good. To be honest, they’re doing the hard work. It’s not that hard to sit in a make-up chair and allow the other guys to do their job. They’re the artists making me look good while I’m just sitting there. In this movie, I’ve been blown up, shot at, mined, napalmed. You name it, I’ve fuckin’ had it. How do you prepare for that? You just get in there and do your job. It’s as simple as that.

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McG Talks Terminator 4

From Horror-Movies.ca ...

We caught up with McG at Comic Con who was nice enough to answer some burning questions we had about the upcoming Terminator 4. Unlike when we talked to Sam Worthington though McG actually had quite a bit to say. One common question that has come up on site is how this film will tie to the other films but on top of that how it will tie to the TV series that has been burning up the air waves. McG is friends with the creator of the show and has spoken with him but they are not going to be the same world and story. Its once again all about making the best movie possible while still being true to the franchise;

I'm a buddy with Josh Friedman who runs the show. We had a meeting early on and we want to honor that at all times, but we can't… I know about episodic television, with The OC and Chuck and Supernatural, what it takes to generate stories hour in, hour out every week.

We just put most fairly, and Josh was the first to jump on and say so, we can't chase their story threads, you know? We honor it. We're all using the same language, but this is this and that is that, and I say that as a huge fan of the series. Where's Jean? Jean and I talk about it all the time, she watches every minute of it and comes back and we report on it and do the whole thing. But at some point you've got to create some freedom and tell the story that you regard as most compelling.

As far as the continuity and tieing this movie to the past ones there is no question McG is well verse in the Terminator films.

We’ve done the best we can to honor the timelines that have been put into place and I think it ultimately feels very satisfying. If we've done our job properly, then this will be regarded as the statement of the time and the place and the where and the when and the why and the how. And it comes from a place of doing a lot of research with, you know, futurists, with scientists who talk about how long it would take the atmosphere to clear itself out so you could actually go back outside and do your thing.

We're trying to just sort of amalgamate the three pictures and amalgamate the intention, and then answer that to the best of our ability. Again, there are certain things that are in stone. The T800 comes in 2029, you know. We're building towards that place. Therefore, if hardware should show up in 2018 that was supposed to be around in 2029, that's a problem for John Connor.

As far as the rating goes as we already told you its going to be getting an R rating which is an absolute blessing. McG has no concerns about the rating from the stand point of pleasing the studio but the benefits of an R rating over a PG 13 rating is he is free to make a movie without restrictions.

I have no problem with a PG13 picture. I just saw The Dark Knight and I thought it was a work of art. I thought it was immaculate. I thought it was made compromise-free. I don't think Chris had to go, “Ah, damn it, if I could just do what I want to do, and get that R that I want, the picture would be better.” So I am saying I'm not afraid of a PG13 rating at all, but we are not rooting for anything, and I'm not going to let the fan base down trying to target a rating.

The only people that would give us a hard time about that would indeed be the studios, which you have to respect because they put a lot of money behind the making of the film. And like I said, Jeff Blake, I'll literally grab him, and Rubinoff, who was sitting in the front row, they don't care. So if they say, “Deliver an R-rated picture,” I mean that's really freeing. It allows us to do what we want to do with the film, so the film will rule the day, we'll all be looking at rough cuts together and we'll make those decisions.

And if it just comes down to, whoops, there's too much blood on the head of the Marcus character, and that's what pops you into an R, I don't think that makes the film infinitely more valuable. So I get back to a PG13. If they want to get rid of, “Oops, you can't have T600s carrying mini-guns,” well then no, it's an R, because there are certain things that are part of the iconographic nature of the film. You know, we talked about all this when we were on the set together. Like I said, we just are really making the film in a vacuum, so we're just doing what we think is right creatively, day in and day out.

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Terminator Salvation On Hold After Deaths

Terminator Salvation is on hold after Helena Bonham's family members were killed in a bus accident in Africa. From Filmonic comes the following;

The actresses cousin Fiona Bonham Carter, 51, escaped with a broken shoulder. But Fiona’s son Marcus Egerton-Warburton, 14, her mother Brenda, 74, and stepfather Francis Kirkwood, 75, all died.

Fiona’s sister-in-law Kay Boardman, 54, also perished in the crash, in a remote area six hours’ drive from Johannesburg. Bonham Carter has now been granted indefinite leave from the set of Terminator Salvation in Albuquerque, New Mexico to fly back to the U.K. to comfort her distraught family.

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Arnold's Role in Terminator 4 Revealed

From BeyondHollywood comes the details on Arnolds cameo in the upcoming Terminator 4. Roland Kippinger was supposed to be playing him but it would seem instead they are going to rely on CGI to put him in the movie.

The premise of Arnie’s involvement is to have a fully rendered digital face of Arnie replacing the recently cast Roland Kickinger (The Younger version of Arnie). It seems the Director Mc G will in no doubt try all he can to ensure the Governator has some sort of involvement and as a result Arnold was on set providing key ADR (Voice over) for the visual effects guys to reference during post production. You have to remember, Arnold’s commitments are preventing his return to the movie business and this seems the best logical way to ensure his involvement.

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McG Says 'Terminator Salvation' Complete

McG posted a brand new blog updating all us Terminator fans on the status of the project. He says the film is now complete and that Christian Bale has seen an early cut of the final film;

We wrapped principal photography. Now we're heavy into post. I've already shown early cuts to Christian and Sam. They seem pleased with where the film is headed. Our focus is on story and character, but it's fun diving into the world of visual effects.

It feels like the responsibility of any Terminator film to reinvent the wheel of effects with every outing. The first movie was a stunning achievement in animatronics and practical effects from Stan Winston. The second film brought us liquid metal, which was a true revolution in the effects world. Robert Patrick's (T-1000) head coming apart and putting itself back together again looks as good today as ever.

Charlie Gibson is aware of his responsibility as the VFX supervisor and second unit director of this film. He works with ILM and Asylum every day and makes revisions to the finest detail. We want the patina of the machines to be dirty and heavy and perfectly realistic - that's why we built so much practically with Stan Winston. But at some point the effects kick in and like any Terminator fan, Charlie wants his mind blown. There's one sequence in particular where we're trying to achieve something that's never been done before. I don't want to talk about it because we haven't been successful yet...

But we're working on it.

It's very interesting working with Conrad Buff every day. First of all he was the editor on Terminator 2 so it's very comforting having his steady hand at the Avid. Long before we ever began we talked about what excited us about making this film. It was the notion of the world after judgment day. We set out to create a world that honored the Terminator mythology but was its own new beginning. Every day I learn from Conrad as he makes the elegant choices of a disciplined filmmaker. It feels great to have his confidence in the movie. I take his opinion very seriously, he provides a daily litmus test for what is worthy of a Terminator film.

Most importantly, Christian and Sam bring power to the rolls of John Connor and Marcus Wright. This is a story of two destinies colliding. Connor is part of a resistance comprised of the ethnicities that make up the globe. This film is so much more that just Los Angeles. It reflects the global crisis of man, all of man versus machine.

McG

Should be interesting to see just how much this film does or does not live up to fan anticipation. Great writing team, great actors, questionable director. Will it deliver? We will have to wait for a full trailer to decide.

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New Flash Poster for Terminator Salvation!

A new Flash poster for Terminator Salvation is online which you can check out here!

www.sonypictures.net/movies/terminatorsalvation/poster.html

In the May 22 release set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

Directed by McG, the film co-stars Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood, Common, Jadagrace and Helena Bonham Carter.