100% Confirmation On Arnold's "Cameo" In Terminator: Salvation

 



 

I reported earlier that it was more than likely that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be having some sort of cameo in the new film Terminator: Salvation.  Now comes a full confirmation of that rumor, from none other than the film's directer McG.  Speaking with the SciFi Wire, McG explained just how they managed to get a young and powerful looking Arnold Schwarzenegger into the film.

 

At the end of the upcoming prequel/sequel film, a T-800 model Terminator appears, looking just like Arnold Schwarzenegger from James Cameron's original 1984 The Terminator, as naked as the first time we see him.

 

McG told reporters that he used computer graphics to make the T-800 look just like Schwarzenegger from the first movie. But wherever else he could, McG wanted to use practical effects.

 

For the T-800 scene, in which John Connor (Christian Bale) confronts the old nemesis, Austrian bodybuilder Roland Kickinger played the Terminator so that Bale would have someone to act opposite. Schwarzenegger's face was superimposed on Kickinger's head in post-production.

 

"Most particularly, you really get the performance you're looking for when you're not stuck telling an actor, 'Oh, the tennis ball is the robot. Be afraid,'" McG said. "That's terrible. I want a 7-foot piece of Soviet tank machinery where if you punch up against that thing, it's going to hurt your hand. And when the red eyes glow, and the puppeteers from Winston Studios do this and smack you, it brings a better performance out of Sam Worthington and out of Christian Bale and everybody else who's interacting in the film. So it was absolutely critical to build as much as was humanly possible, and then when you have to extend in a CG capacity, sure, go for it. But films that take place purely in a CG environment, I find they just feel animated and I detach as a viewer, so I'm less interested in that respect."

 

I couldn't agree with that last statement more.  I feel the same way about films that are overly CG'd.  This is why I was so annoyed at the Star Wars prequels.  Everything in those films was CG.  It felt like George Lucas had forgotten how to build a set.  It makes me happy then to hear McG say that he went out of his way to try to build as many things as possible without relying too much on CG.  I think it will absolutely add to the realism of the film and will make it cooler to watch.

 

As for a digital Arnold head appearing on a bodybuilder's body, I'm ok with that too, so long as the CG doesn't look horrible.  If the effects are decent and it really looks like Christian Bale is standing next to a young Arnold, that that'll be a really great moment to geek out over.  However, if the effects are crap it could turn into one of those moments that just ruins a film. 

 

Let's just hope the former is true there.