Terminator: Salvation – the fourth installment of the robot apocalypse franchise – may have been obvious and contagious at Toronto’s press-only screening of selected footage on Tuesday, but it also got him into some trouble. That is, if you consider ruffling the feathers of your production company and spoiling parts of your movie trouble.

Speaking frankly, the Michigan-born director told the audience that he had initially thought the idea to create a fourth Terminator film was “terrible.”

“[Director James] Cameron had told the whole story in two films,” he said, doing his best to hide his obvious disdain for the third film, Rise of the Machines.However, he quickly warmed to the idea when he discovered the planned story was set in the post-apocalyptic, post-“Judgment Day” world of the Terminator mythos. “There were only ever glimpses of the world after Judgment Day,” he said. “So, right there, I started thinking that it might be worthwhile.”

Despite seeking (and winning) seals of approval from original Terminator creator/director James Cameron and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, things didn’t totally fall into place creatively for McG until actor Christian Bale signed on to do the film.

“I asked myself ‘Who would be the best John Connor?’” he said. “Christian Bale is the most credible actor of his generation, so he was an obvious choice.”

The intense and notoriously uncompromising Bale wasn’t easy to win over. “I went to see him on the set of the Dark Knight in England. He reads the script and goes, ‘I hate this, it’s shit,’” the director recalled.

Bale didn’t dismiss the film altogether, though. After McG explained his vision for Salvation – influenced by everything from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the works of Philip K. Dick and video footage of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster – McG says Bale quipped, “That sounds great but until it’s on the page: f*ck off. Get it so we can read it in a room, without special effects and explosions and still have it be engaging, then I’ll do your film.”

With the help of Dark Knight co-writer Jonathan Nolan, McG got the script to that point. “Christian got excited about the story because it was a ‘becoming’ story – it was the story of John Connor becoming the leader of the resistance,” he said.

McG’s film (hoped to be the first part of a new trilogy) will draw primarily from the first two films, ignoring much continuity from 2003’s Rise of the Machines and all of Fox’s Terminator TV show, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Set in 2018, Salvation will follow a post-Judgment Day Connor as he rises through the ranks of the resistance. It will also follow the creation of the lifelike, “game-changing” T-800 Terminators (like the ones played by Schwarzenegger in the first films) by Skynet. Joining Bale is Australian actor Sam Worthington, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common and Anton Yelchin, who will play Kyle Reese, the man who is destined to travel into the past, save Connor’s mother and become Connor’s father.

Even with the importance placed on solid storytelling, acting and characterization – including what the director described as several intense, no cut, dialogue-heavy sequences featuring Bale – the footage showcased by McG was stuffed with the sort of action one might expect from the Terminator franchise. Set pieces filled with robots, explosions, firefights and more explosions seem to be the order of the day. While much of the footage featured still incomplete special effects, its lofty ambitions and intent were obvious.

“The Terminator franchise has a responsibility to push the lexicon of visual effects,” McG said, citing memorable sequences such as the envelope-pushing liquid metal Terminator of Judgment Day. “I’ve thrown down the gauntlet to [special effects company] ILM, and if all goes well, we’re working on something amazing that will be our legacy to film.”

McG’s enthusiasm for this particular effect led him to into some spoiler-worthy territory involving the possible involvement of a certain governor of a large U.S. state. “I have to show this footage to Arnold and he’ll go back to his advisors and they’ll be all like, ‘Is this good for you to do?’” said McG, who then joked, “Like your political stylings led you to be governor, you’re the f*cking Terminator!”

Just what type of cameo could Schwarzenegger possibly make in the film? McG slyly remarked, “I really can’t say anything but…the effect we’re working on isn’t quite there yet but when it is, let’s just say that there’s going to be a scene with Christian Bale where he meets…another guy.”

Terminator: Salvation is set to hit theatres May 22.

Source: The Province