In a statement sure to stir up fanboys and sci-fi geeks around the world, Christian Bale has questioned the legitimacy of his upcoming film “Terminator Salvation” in GQ Magazine.
“How serious can a movie about time-traveling robots be?” Bale asks. “You want it to be cool and fun.” So why the pessimism? “Look, I hate to throw people under the bus for making movies I don’t think are very good. But for ‘Salvation’ to be considered with any legitimacy, you have to throw number three (“Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”) under the bus. It began to spoof the whole thing. To me, that was a sign that the franchise was dead, the mythology was finished.”
His personal opinions on the film doesn’t mean anything less from his performance but – as Bale explains: “I do like taking stuff seriously that a lot of people look at as nonsense. I enjoy the insanity of that. And I like the commitment that is needed for that. But this is a movie about time-traveling robots.”
Bale also discussed John Connor and how he went about his portrayal of the character previously played by Edward Furlong and Nick Stahl. “Well, he’s not a freak like Bruce Wayne. There’s nothing pathological about him. He has a burden. He knows he’s to be the savior of mankind. J.C., right? In early versions of the script, they had all these weird paganistic amulets and talismans all over me. I told ’em to get rid of that crap. John Connor is all about utility: ‘There is no fate but what you make.’ As far as playing him, I thought of it mainly in terms of his mom. He’s got this mad dog of a mom who everybody thinks is crazy but whose prophecies turn out to be true. I felt that a lot of her ferocity and recklessness had to be passed down.”
Further, like many of us, Bale admitted to thinking director McG lacked the credentials for ‘Salvation.’ “McG, who had a fear of flying, flew to England to meet me. He still didn’t convince me. I was very open with him and said that I hadn’t seen anything he had done before that justified him being the guy to make this. But I’ve always been grateful for people giving me that opportunity to do things I’ve never done before, and I’m always for people transforming themselves.”
Despite Bale’s best efforts to knock the early concept of the film and ‘T3, ‘early reviews for ‘Salvation’ have so far been mixed. Variety’s John Anderson had this to say:
“Darker, grimmer and more stylistically single-minded than its two relatively giddy predecessors, “Terminator Salvation” boasts the kind of singular vision that distinguished the James Cameron original, the full-throttle kinetics of “Speed” and an old-fashioned regard for human (and humanoid) heroics.”
“McG exhibits an unexpected flair for the dreadful, abrupt and awesome.”
“This is not your governator’s “Terminator.””
“McG’s direction is always intelligent. The script by John Brancato and Michael Ferris occasionally goes off the rails.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s Michael Rechtshaffen wasn’t so complementary though:
“Although director McG manages to keep the machinery humming 18 years after James Cameron’s “Judgment Day” and its liquid metal raised the F/X stakes considerably, anchoring it in any sort of satisfying dramatic context is another story.”
“…scripters John Brancato & Michael Ferris fails to give Bale and Worthington much opportunity to stand out from all the monochromatic rubble.”
“…an important ingredient of the “Terminator” iconography – namely, the fun factor – is in short supply.”
“It’s just not the same without the Governator.”
“Terminator Salvation” is out next week, May 21st. [Christian-Bale.org via Oh No They Didn’t]