Culture

Terminator: Salvation Opens Tomorrow, Nearly Didn't Star Bale

by Jordan Yerman | May 21, 2009 at 08:36 am

280 views | 4 Recommendations | 3 comments

Terminator: Salvation opens tomorrow. If you're male, you already know that. If you fancy Christian Bale, you're also no doubt aware. The film you're going to see almost didnt' take shape, though, since both director and star initially passed on the project. McG (of Charlie's Angels fame) wasn't interested in directing another sequel, and Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, on-set hissy fit) also passed: Bale was originally menat to play Marcus Wright, who may or may not be a navel-gazing killbot, a role that eventually went to Sam Worthington once the script was rewritten to be more John Connor-centric.

Once Bale signed on, the project got the green-light from the studio.

McG wasn't the only person associated with the "T4" saga who was reluctant to sign on initially. Christian Bale, who plays John Connor, was similarly dismissive.

"The whole idea of a 'Terminator' movie was sent to me and I said no," said Bale.

With that response, McG said he had to really step up his game to persuade the "Dark Knight" star to sign on. He visited Bale on the set of the Batman movie and sold the story to him.

CTV describes the film as a loud-but-soulless popcorn flick, but I think that's surely the point.

Twenty-five years, four films and one television show (the just canceled Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles") and the franchise is still going strong.

Also, The Matrix isn't the only film with a (tenuous) grasp of metaphysics:

An essay called "Bad Timing: The Metaphysics of the Terminator" even has charts explaining a vicious circle that suggests, "In order to exist, John needs to send Kyle back in time, but John already needs to exist in order to send Kyle back in time." Or, to quote the machine, "I know now why you cry."