Will Hamilton or Schwarzenegger appear in Terminator Salvation? What don’t you fucking understand?

I attended the Warner Brothers panel at New York Comic Con on Saturday, and Terminator Salvation director McG led the audience through some of the current developments in the production.

During the panel’s Q&A, a fan asked if the current media blitz over Bale’s verbal lashing of director of photography Shane Hurlbut has hurt the film. McG responded with the joke:

“What don’t you fucking understand?” adding, “It hasn’t affected us at all. He talked about it yesterday – the whole thing got a little heated – but frankly the bigger violation is that anything that happens on a movie set leaks out. It’s not fair, and I hope it doesn’t color filmmaking in the future with actors being more cautious regarding going for it. It’s part of the creative process. Christian took responsibility for how he acted. Shane and Christian are fine now…I wanted that kind of passion to show up in the John Connor character.”

McG proceeded to call Christian Bale’s home and Bale’s wife Sibi Blazic answered, put on McG’s cel phone speaker. After being introduced to the audience, she graciously thanked everyone for their support of the film.

The director went on to say how he championed Bale taking on the role of John Connor in Terminator Savation, and how when Bale first saw the script, he hated it (the script has received rewrites from the likes of Crash director Paul Haggis, Shawn Ryan, Anthony E. Zuiker and Jonathan Nolan).

McG was altogether funny and engaging, initially calling three audience members to the stage to join him during the Q&A, in an immediate attempt to lighten the mood – probably anticipating the initial focus on the Bale controversy.

In discussing the film, McG reiterating his serious approach to the project, knowing the historical success and fan appreciation of the Terminator franchise.

The director also said the film as the “origin story” of how John Connor ascends to a leadership role in the post-apocalyptic resistance. From his discussion and the footage he later screened, it seemed to me that iconic genre film character actor Michael Ironside, who has 22 years of military training in the film, is also one of the leaders of the resistance in the upcoming sequel/prequel.

McG also confirmed that the film will relay how the machines created more human-like Terminators (the T-800s), which were originally rubbery-skinned hulks, that were very easy to spot by humans.

He also briefly reiterated how he sought director James Cameron’s blessing during a set visit to Avatar.

The filmmaker was asked at one point by an audience member about the possibility of Arnold Schwarzenegger appearing in the new film. What he said was quite interesting:

We’re wrestling with how to express that issue within the lexicon of the T-800’s development.

That issue being the fact that the T-800 was initially formed in Schwarzenegger’s likeness.

McG went on the say that he in fact would like to address Arnold’s likeness somehow within the storyline, but that it hasn’t been done yet.

In fact, I have a meeting set up with the guys at ILM, and that’s one of the things we’re going to discuss. But we don’t know yet if it’s going to work.

It definitely sounds as though filmmakers will attempt some type of CGI effects, but want to make it believable. However, McG says Gov. Schwarzenegger will apparently not make an appearance himself in the film.

Coincidentally, Roland Kickinger, who’s also from Austria, and is a former bodybuilder, is listed on IMDB credits as playing the T-800 role in the new film.

When asked again about the likelihood of original cast member Linda Hamilton doing a cameo role, McG said he couldn’t answer without spoiling the film.

However he may have given us some clues with his “non-answer”, when he said (approximately):

I can’t say anything to spoil the film for fans in that way, HOWEVER, in creating the new film’s storyline, we definitely want to keep the [continuity and evolution of the timeline intact.]

Terminator Salvation opens in theaters on May 22.