A question heavy on Terminator fans minds is “how will Arnold play a robot at his advanced age?” There is a new sequel to the Terminator saga currently in development. It is set to go before cameras in April and is titled, Terminator: Genesis. Rumors and speculation have run rampant about the production. There are a ton of unanswered issues about the character Schwarzenegger will be playing. The rumors range from Arnold playing the Terminator at age 66 (but made to look younger with CGI), to Schwarzenegger playing the scientist that the Terminator was modeled after. During his publicity tour for the upcoming movie, Sabatoge, Schwarzenegger shed some light to MTV on how they incorporating him and his advanced age into the Terminator mythology:
“The way that the character is written, it’s a machine underneath…It’s this metal skeleton. But above that is human flesh. And the Terminator’s flesh ages, just like any other human being’s flesh. Maybe not as fast. But it definitely ages.”
That is an easily acceptable way to accept the aging process on film. However, will it make the ultimate killing machine seem a little more benign, when an old man robot is stalking you…slowly? It seems that the writers have indeed accounted for that notion. Schwarzenegger went on to explain that is not the only version of the T-800 that we will see in the story:
“Terminator deals a lot with time travel, so there will be a younger T-800…and then what that model does later on when it gets reprogrammed, and who gets ahold of him. So it will be all kinds of interesting twists in the movie, but I feel so good.”
A slowly aging robot makes sense when you consider the time travel element and rumors that the story will span from the 50’s or 60’s through, at least, the first two films. Is it possible that we will have the “young” Terminator dropped into that time period and by the time we get to the 80’s we have an “older” robot? Does that mean there was a T-800 stashed away for all those decades? It raises a lot of questions, but more importantly it seems to give the writers and creators a lot of latitude to put together a compelling story. The biggest problem that the franchise has encountered in the past few installments is that there really no where for the story to go. A lot of the dramatic tension was solved by the future already being “saved” by successfully protecting the Connors in the first two films. If the rumors hold true, Terminator: Genesis will revisit iconic scenes and pivotal moments from early on in the series and the tension may come from the threat of changing the timeline that the viewers have already accepted. This means the film should hold up as a sequel and a reboot in one swift motion. Director Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World, Game of Thrones) has a huge task at hand, however it seems that early on a lot more creative avenues are being explored than the last two installments. Filming begins next month and we can’t wait to bring you all the details!
Does the news about how the T-800 excite you? Are the filmmakers taking the right approach? Would an old man Terminator scare you? Let us know how you feel!
Terminator: Genisys Plot Synopsis and Spoilers (Click here)
SOURCE: MTV and Moviehole