Justin Lin, director of FAST FIVE, is at the helm for the next TERMINATOR film. Lin has been discussing the project at length with star of the first two films Arnold Schwarzenegger and their original director James Cameron.

“…to be able to sit in a room with Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron and be able to talk it through and kick ideas around, that’s been priceless already.””

Lin reports a desire to capture the spirit of the first two films, and perhaps in more ways than one. Though Lin has dismissed rumors of reuniting the entire original cast, there’s still room for speculation that ol’ Arnie might hop back into the starring role of a future TERMINATOR.

“Is time our enemy? Well, there is a ticking clock but anytime anything goes into development – with the state of filmmaking and the way films get made – you’re always fighting for more time. The biggest enemy is rushing things. I don’t think it should be rushed.”

Source: Hero Complex

According to Deadline, progress on the TERMINATOR 5 project has been surging forward, but has consequently forced director Justin Lin to pull out of the project because of scheduling issues.

Rights owner Megan Ellison and Arnold Schwarzenegger have announced that the next two TERMINATOR-franchise movies will be going into production late in 2012. Unfortunately Lin already has a commitment to do FAST AND THE FURIOUS 6, which would prevent him from directing anything else at that time.

The big rush toward TERMINATOR production is partially due to the fact that the rights to the franchise revert back to James Cameron in 2018, which means they can’t wait around if they want to pull off two movies before that time.

However, if Ellison and Schwarzenegger can adjust their schedules to wait until after Lin can wrap up the nitrous-filled flick, he would still be very much interested in directing TERMINATOR 5. But if and until that gets worked out, it looks like the TERMINATOR flicks will be needing a new director.

Another actor who stands out is Anton Yelchin as a teenaged Kyle Reese, John Conor’s father. After watching him as Chekov in Star Trek and now in Salvation, I am convinced that this kid is definitely someone to be watched. He very strongly channeled the adult Kyle Reese, played by Michael Biehn, in the first Terminator. I remember seeing him in Alpha Dog and crying my eyes out after he gets shot. Fantastic!
While the over all plot line of the film is great, there are a few things that don’t really fit. One is the strange love connection between Marcus and Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood), a resistance fighter. I’m sure it’s meant to display the fact that Marcus is still part man, but it’s awkward. I also don’t understand why John Connor is under anyone. Why isn’t he the top dog? And why does General Ashdown (Michael Ironside) kick him out of the resistance at the end? It’s unnecessary drama. And why is his wife pregnant? Is it just because Bryce Dallas Howard was pregnant so they worked it in? Must be, because it really has no other purpose. In fact, there is no purpose for her character in this film at all. I’m a bit confused that Howard would take it, because she is far above playing Mrs. Connor. Maybe her character will be more important later on in other films.
When comparing Salvation to the first two films (T3 doesn’t exist in my mind), it falls a bit flat if only because of the lack of Shwarzenegger. The first two also have that fresh new feeling, and a cult standing. Not much beats Linda Hamilton kicking ass.
A failed attempt at reconnecting Salvation with the other Terminator films was a moment when, after being kicked out of the resistance club, John Connor leaves to take on his destined mission. Kate Connor (Howard) asks what she should tell his men, and he says…”I’ll be back”. Should’ve been great. We all should have been cheering in our seats. It’s too bad that Bale delivered it so blandly. I hardly caught it, and then it took me another minute to make the connection.
McG did a great job directing, however. The action scenes were very exciting and fulfilling. And bringing back a CGI of the Governor as the Terminator was hilarious. Everyone loved that. Looks like a T5 is in the works, so lets get ready for more awesome action, human/machine hand to hand combat (which is totally unrealistic because the machines would crush our little bones instantly), and Christian Bale…again.

The original Terminator was given a private screening of early footage from Terminator Salvation by producers of the current film, coming next May.

“If [director McG] has the T4 and the kind of shots that has the audience thinking, ‘Now how did he do that?’ — then it is Terminator and you can blow everyone away and every record at the box office,” he predicted. “I do hope it creates a spectacle on the screen. That is what James Cameron created.”

“I kind of play a baddie, definitely a baddie,” Bonham Carter told Sci Fi Wire. “I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say, but I’m a very bad person.

“Tim [Burton] would have killed me if I hadn’t done it, because he’s such a Terminator fan,” Bonham Carter said of her partner and collaborator.

“I’ve been in big movies before, like [Planet of the] Apes, and Fight Club was big in a different way, and Charlie [and the Chocolate Factory] and Sweeney Todd were big, but I’ve never been in this kind of big popcorn action movie, a male one, an action one.”

The director then told the filled room that he’s about halfway completed with principal photography.  He and Warner Bros. are thrilled with the footage which gave him a chance to confirm that the rating remains up in the air.  If it merits an R, everyone involved will be comfortable with that.

He showed an assemblage of clips that thrilled one and all then introduced other members of the cast: Common, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood, Anton Yelchin, and Sam Worthington.

McG discussed the time frame of the film which is 2018, a good decade-plus before the 2029 model (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was used.  It’s at this point that SkyNet was created and how it launched the man versus machine war. We’ll also see why John Connor became the leader he is now known as. He later mentioned the film’s look, a constant reference point of dirty, dented steel.

Sam Worthington described working with Bale as “intense. He’s f&*%in’ Batman! I loved him.” McG added that Worthington’s statement sums up exactly why Sam was cast. “We needed someone tough, someone who could stand up in a 2-shot with Bale,” McG said.

On the subject of sequels, McG was clear that the series has room for more stories and each film should stand on nits own without numbering.  After all, he noted, Christian Bale just starred in The Dark Knight not Batman 6.

“Biehn is awesome,” Yelchin said of Michael Biehn, whose character he plays in the new film. “The whole thing is to see how he became that way.”

Dallas Bryce Howard, who plays Kate Connor, compared her current role with Spider-Man 3’s Gwen Stacy.  While Spidey was a direct story sequel, Terminator Salvation is more like a fresh start.  However, like the Marvel film, she and the rest of the cast are very aware of the high expectations that come with a successful franchise.

The panel discussion ended with McG milking the crowd, having them beg him to rerun the clip reel.

“All three Terminator films took place present day, with Terminators traveling back in time to attack. This picture takes place after Judgment Day. It happened. Everything is gone. The story of the movie is the ‘brink moment’ Reese always talked about.

“From a technical perspective, we have set out to achieve a completely new visual style that hasn’t been seen before. We’re shooting the film on color stock but are using a method inspired by the Oz process which was developed at Technicolor by Mike Zacharia and Bob Olson. Basically we are adding three times as much silver. It creates a surreal texture that is in keeping with the notion of the entire picture – feeling detached from the world we know today.

“Every morning and every night Christian and I work on the story. Sam’s contribution has been excellent. We are committed to putting the story and character first and then supplementing that with action and visual effects. It is our intention to make a film on a large scale with the nuance and subtext of a high quality independent picture.

“The richness of the story is really coming out now. It’s a Prometheus tale really, how creating life creates real responsibility – and if left unchecked, can be our undoing. The entire crew takes the making of this film very seriously. I made a point of hiring key personnel that are passionate about getting this right. Everyone is well versed in the mythology.”

“There’s a very strong scene in the film where John Connor for the first time meets the Terminator, and he doesn’t know if he’s a good guy or a bad guy,” Kickinger told the paper.

“It’s Arnold’s character in the first Terminator. That’s basically my role, but 20 years before, so it establishes how the Terminator [came] about.”

Glau mentioned that “Cameron definitely has some issues after the explosion. And everybody changes after the first episode.”

News includes the fact that Garret Dillahunt and his Cromartie character have been upgraded to series regular status. “I like him,” the actor said of his T-888 alter ego. “They’re really not bad guys—they’re doing their job. He has no hate in him. He’s like: ‘Look, it’s my job, sorry…Gotta snap your neck.’ “

Series showrunner Josh Friedman commented on Cameron’s emerging personality.  “I think sometimes she does when it suits her. Last year she learned how to paint her nails, and she’s learned how to wear miniskirts and exploit her legs for attention.”

He went on to note that, “I think if there were somebody else in John’s life that could cause strategic problems, I think that’s almost like jealousy, and she would work to eliminate that threat. I think we may see some of that this year.”

Perhaps the biggest change to the series will be the arrival of Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson as a regular.  Friedman dished as to how that happened. “Shirley and [my wife] Christine are actually old friends, so it’s kind of cheating,” he admitted. “I would tell Christine, ‘Oh, you’re having lunch with Shirley, tell her I want her on the show.’ We had no idea what to do with her. We just thought it’d be fun to have her. Then this year, I had written this part and I thought, let’s see if she can come in and do it. But it’s a pretty big part, so Shirley—like anybody else—had to go through the whole audition process.”

The first series will be run as a marathon beginning in August with the second season ready to kick off on September 8.

The film has been shooting for weeks now in New Mexico and The Hollywood Reporter describes her part as “small but pivotal”.

A first look of the film is expected with The Dark Knight on July 18.