Reviving the Terminator franchise for a new generation became an all-consuming journey for its director, McG. He introduces us to the key players, using stills from the film. Whether human or machine, they contribute to the world of Terminator Salvation. The film opens May 21. Left: Bleak action for a bleak worldDirector McG stripped most of the color from Salvation in order to evoke an "other-worldly, desolate feeling." The filmmaker solicited feedback from experts who monitored the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, then underscored the post-apocalyptic sense of gloom by using obsolete Kodak stock that was baked in the sun to deliberately damage the film. "Most importantly," McG said, "we added three times as much silver in the processing than one traditionally would to a color stock."
Sam Worthington took on the role of rugged mystery man Marcus Wright after meeting McG on the set of upcoming sci-fi epic Avatar, which also stars the Australian actor. "Sam can stand up to Bale in a two-shot, and that’s a tall order," said McG. Worthington came recommended for the gig by Avatar director James Cameron, creator of the first two Terminator pictures. McG, eager to win Cameron’s seal of approval, remembers the pitch: "I told Cameron, ’This is the first Terminator picture that takes place post-Judgment Day. We’ll be able explore this world that you alluded to ever so briefly and re-invigorate Terminator in the spirit of what Chris Nolan did with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight or the James Bond franchise has done in the Daniel Craig space.’ So Cameron said, ’OK, that sounds interesting.’"
Actor Moon Bloodgood wields her weapon as Blair Williams, who connects with Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington) during the course of the film. Bloodgood’s character represents a glimmer of goodness amid the ruins, McG said. "When Marcus arrives in 2018, the bombs have gone off and he finds himself in this world of duress," McG said. "Yet he finds kindness in an old woman who gives him food, the courage of a young boy and the warmth of a woman, played by Moon Bloodgood."
It’s the attack of the white-faced creatures, and where evil lurks, the alien intelligence of Skynet can’t be far behind."Skynet is smart enough to use the best parts of ourselves against ourselves — so can we trust the machine?" McG said. "Therein lies the rub and that’s what Act 3 of this movie is all about."
John Connor (played by Christian Bale) leads his men through a swamp, but only after proving himself worthy of command. Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight) rewrote the Salvation script after Bale insisted on a meaty character arc for Connor. "Christian wanted to know, ’How do I evolve as a character?’" McG said. "So we came up with the idea that everybody knows John Connor as the leader of the resistance, yet when you meet him in our film he’s just one of many soldiers who gets batted around and told what to do. He does not start out as a leader in Salvation. John Connor’s got to earn it."
McG gives direction to Christian Bale and Common, who plays Barnes. During the Terminator Salvation shoot in New Mexico last summer, which included the now-infamous Bale tirade, McG was struck by his leading man’s intensity. "There are a few two- and three-page scenes played in one shot where it’s just the camera moving slowly in on Bale, and you see an actor in such command of his instrument — he chooses where to take a breath, where to blink, and has such total immersion as an actor that it’s really something to watch," the director said.
Robots roll off the assembly line in Terminator Salvation, and it’s up to John Connor to ring the alarm. McG likens the urgency of this scenario to the closing days of World War II. "Imagine we snuck into Hitler’s Germany and found all these V-2 rockets with nuclear tips that the Nazis weren’t supposed to have," McG said. "We’d go back to the powers that be and explain, ’This is a huge problem. It’s going to change everything.’ That’s what happens with Connor — he’s got to raise the curtain and defeat Skynet because the launch of the T-800 means curtains for everyone."
John Connor ponders a glowing-orbed mechanized soldier. The evolution of machine intelligence became a major theme for McG and his collaborators. "The first film showed Schwarzenegger’s T-800 coming from 2029 back in time," McG said. "This movie takes place in 2018, so we see the R&D that went into all these machines, in particular the T-800. It’s like when they had to go through a lot of lab rats to get to the polio vaccine. In Salvation, we humans are the lab rats. Skynet is testing on us to figure out how to make a photorealistic, leaner, smaller more capable machine — the T-800."
Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington, left) faces off against John Connor (Christian Bale) in Terminator Salvation. The fierce dynamic between these characters drives the movie, McG said. "John Connor has got to trust Marcus.... The fundamental mythology of the film is that John Connor and Marcus Wright have got to keep Kyle Reese alive so he can go back in time to impregnate Sarah Connor, to give birth to John Connor who will save us all from the tyranny of Skynet," McG said.
