McG has posted yet another blog post on the Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins Blog. While he doesn’t come out and completely debunk the rumor that has most of the internet up in arms, the director assures us that “there are only three people who know the ending.” He gives us some insight into the world of this story:
“It took Skynet a lot of research and development to get to the T-800, and this movie explores that ’space between.’ … In this film, there are Hydrobots that patrol the water, Transports that move human prisoners around, Harvesters that collect human beings as lab rats for Skynet and Aerostats that survey all that is going on with the resistance the world over,” McG writes. “We’ve started shooting the T-600 - the bigger, grimier, nastier version that preceded the T-800. Like Reese says, they’re easier to spot but they pack a mini gun and carry kick ass fire power. They’re eight-foot tall killers that prowl the badlands looking for anything with a heartbeat to terminate.”
Sounds pretty friggin cool if you ask me. McG describes the T-600 as “bummer, rubbery skin, prosthetic look that “cloaks an unrelenting machine with a singular focus of killing.” Could be kind of creepy. As well as Arnold played a robot, there is nothing creepier than a robot that doesnt look human. Something with a driving force behind it that just cant be stopped. I think thats why everyone loves Winston’s design of the endoskelleton so much. As for that PG-13 rating that fans have been making a huge fuss over, McG asks that we “don’t get too uptight about the prospect of the film being PG-13.”
“We have entertained the idea of a PG-13 rating largely because Batman Begins, in my opinion, was made compromise-free. So we’ll see. The movie comes first and it will be protected at all times…”
And I think he has a huge point. One must remember this is a war against machines. The robots don’t bleed. You can do all sorts of violent things to them without a film being R rated. And I think films like Batman Begins and Live Free or Die Hard hvae pushed the boundaries of this restriction. And in the funniest move I’ve seen in a while, McG basically apologizes for having a stupid nickname:
“I realize my name is ridiculous. I was born Joseph McGinty Nichol. McG is short for McGinty. I have been called this since the day I was born to create separation from my Uncle Joe and Grandpa Joe. I realize it sounds like some Hollywood nickname, hip-hop choice. But the truth is, this is simply my name - for every day of elementary school, every zit-filled day of high school. I have been taking shit for it ever since. I get it, I would think it’s lame too. But it’s just a name, and to change it now would seem fraudulent.”
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Okay, I am slightly appeased but don’t think you can just butter me up McG! I’ll expect results with all these promises of grandeur! As for your name…well a rose by any other name is still a rose but the same goes for shit so DON’T F*CK THIS UP! Please :P
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Ahhh, the old let’s-pretend-I-don’t-like-my-name-but-the-truth-is-that-I-like-it-because-it-looks-cool-in-the-credits bit. Gotta love it.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Well, this makes me a little bit more optimistic. Reading that I actually started to like the guy. o_O
THERE IS HOPE!!
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Im starting to like this guy. Every one keeps shitting on him hard core. Ok maybe his first movies were full of complete shit. But you know what, i have faith in the guy. So far i like what he is say so you go kid ;)
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
McG is not simply his name. McG is his nickname. Joseph Nichol is simply his name. This guy’s a fucking retard.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
dwayne johnson dropped the rock you could drop the McG too
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I went to school with McG and we didn’t call him that. We called him “The Mayor”. He seemed to know someone wherever we went and one of our friends said”What are you, The Mayor?” True story.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Sorry to have such a harsh disagreement but bulls*** on the PG-13 rating. I know robots don’t bleed (just proved it with my Roomba) but Robots can make people bleed (just proved it with my Roomba) and that’s where this movie could go from a passable terminator film to a no holds barred frightening as all hell terminator film; which it will need to be. Becuase we’ve seen it billion times, everyone now enjoys that adorable endoskeleton that arnie made so likeable. It’s just not scary anymore, but that scene in T2 with the T-1000 finger piercing a head through some milk? YES! I want to see Starship Trooper level mayhem with robots. That’s pretty horrific to me. Not the WWE with smashing walls style fights in T3 or Sarah Conner Chronicles.
The original terminator (less so T2) was a MEAN-spirited flick. I don’t need Hostel-mean but I want to be fully aware that robots do not screw around.
But on the bright side, now we’ll get cute lil’ Hasbro vinyl figures!!!!
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I thought he was going to apologize for the name of the MOVIE when I first started to read this. Thats the really dumb thing. Honestly if I wasn’t a “movie geek” that would completely turn me off from it, and I never would have thought twice.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
i doubt his high school diploma says McG. at the very least he could put McG Nichol. not having a last name is what makes this retarded.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I just found out this guy directed both Charlie’s Angels and produced The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll. Why would anyone pick this guy to direct such a HUGE franchise like the Terminator? Smells like some one doing some one else a favor.
To me, this sounds like the wrong choice for Terminator. I don’t know about this one people.
But. Regardless, i guess good directors need to start some where. I hope he starts here.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Are you kidding me? Hahaha.
Carrot Top, Sting, Vanilla Ice, Snow, Bono, and McG belong to the Skull & Bones of AsinineLand. Tarsem is still awaiting membership. Prince is exempted, b/c his goes up to 11.
Join the adults, McG. You have a McName. Ditch it.
As for his comparison to Batman Begins, zzzzz. We’ll be hearing this from every director for the next decade. Terminators are killing machines, dystopias works best when they are R.
Would Blade Runner, Aliens or Total Recall be better rated PG-13? They still couldn’t pass for PG-13 today.
Don’t Aliens bleed acid per that defense of Terminator 4? A PG-13 Alien movie, really? A new trilogy of them?
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
“PG-13 future war”, still cracks me up.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:55 pm
@MonkeyMafia: What the hell are you doing to my Roomba?? Stop it now or you’ll go blind…or something.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Wah Wah Wah. People complain about PG-13. Theres been plenty of PG13 movies that have been good. Since most of the terminators (it seems) will not have “skin” then it shouldn’t be rated R. Thats the only real reason The first terminator was rated R. Just because a movie isnt rated R, doesnt mean it can’t be good. He said, “The movie comes first and it will be protected at all times…” Seems pretty legit to me. Im sure if it comes out with an R rating, they’re not going to scrap it. They will probably just cut down on useless “HEY LETS PUT SOME RANDOM BLOOD SPLATTER THAT IS COMPLETELY UNNEEDED RIGHT THERE!” I cant believe there are people that are going to complain about a movies RATING.. Very mature..
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:01 pm
He probably keeps the McG to associate himself with Hip-Hop culture, in hopes that young kids who don’t know any better will go see his garbage films bec ause they think he’s a rapper or something. It’s a lame nickname, period. Anyway if he thinks the crap he’s catching now for his name, and the crappy Charlie’s Angle’s movies is bad, wait to see what will happen if he screws up the Terminator.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
People get called all sorts of nicknames, it doesn’t mean you need to get credited as them. It’s not like the director of 3 Kings goes by Douchebag O. Russell because everyone calls him that.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
-dammit, this guy actually sounds pretty cool. and i have a grandpa joe who is the kindest man i’ll ever know. i’m officially backing off of the ‘mcg personal bashing’.
-i’d like to see an R rating, after all, THIS IS A FILM ABOUT THE GENOCIDE OF THE HUMAN RACE. but i also don’t want to see random violence just for the sake of an R. STORY STORY STORY - that is all i care about. well, story and execution.
-i just don’t like the idea of ticket sales being more important than a brutality honest vision of what this would be like: “eight-foot tall killers that prowl the badlands looking for anything with a heartbeat to terminate.†can you depict that in pg-13 - yes. can you HONESTLY depict that in pg-13 - not in the established terminator universe.
-those non-human looking robots will be 100 times creepier if they use practical effects and not cg. it could be very creepy, just not when you can tell its cgi.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Being someone given a nickname I’m still trying to get rid of, I can relate to McG… but I agree that he doesn’t have to be credited as “McG”. He may have been given it young, but he keeps it cause it’s recognizable. Even when all he’s made are mediocre films, we recognize his name. Could I say that same if he was “Joseph Nichol”? Who knows, I recognize “Uwe Boll”… though that could be an exception which proves the rule…
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 pm
First off I don’t even think McG wrote that.
This sounds like damage control at Skynet central.
Mcg? touched on 3 main points: here’s the problems I have with them.
The T-600.
He described as a “8ft tall, killing machine that roams the land killing anything with a heartbeat”.
If you go watch T1, Reese describes the T-600 and T-800’s as infiltration units. They are the “steath models” of there day.
They don’t roam the landscape shooting rabbits.
The T-600’s weren’t described as being 8ft tall. (Only having rubber skin.)
If you get what Reese was saying, the T-600’s were prototype models. Models that were used as test runs for the elite T-800 models.
(So whoevers writing this there allready pissing me off.)
Then McG talks about the PG-13 rating.
Ok the rating bothers me but thats not what everyones talking about here today.
(We can deal with that after this plot problem.)
Then we get a empathy speech about his so-called name.
(Who cares! I’m concerned about the plot details not what you call yourself.)
Hear me now McG/whoevers writing this rebute, if Marcus is a T-anything, or Connor’s dead corpes is skinned and thrown on the Endoskeleton of Marcus as a (role model?), then buddy you just shit on 80% of the Terminator fanbase.
This isn’t the Sarah Connor Cronicles man!
Just because it did well (only thing on during a WGA strike) on TV dosnt mean that shits gonna fly with the film fanbase.
This sounds like a bad TV show idea, and a pathetic way to milk the fans.
If this really is McG, your completly out of touch bro!
And this film is going to be more like Judgement Day than you think, if you catch my fallout.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
790 with the detailed Terminator mythos 3 footer.
This MCG dude is going to furthur bury this franchise. I don’t care who or what the cast is. I really don’t understand why people seem to think this guy is going to all of a sudden have some “artistic renaissance awakening” now that he’s got his hands on a franchise that’s be turned into a WWF weekend special.
The guys been making crap for years, this isn’t going to change anything.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Captain Awesome, I feel like your the only one that gets me on this site.
You crack me up bro!
And yes I think your right. What a mess.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
McG………..I’m watching you…………….SkyNet>
copyrite microsoft 2029
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Arnold bled in the first three Terminators. I assumed it was a disguise until you saw him in full form.
I don’t know what to think of the Terminator: Salvation series. If its full of unnecessary CGI that became of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull than I’m totally tuned out.
If McG wants to talk Batman Begins than I think he should disguise the effects like that movie. The story and characters are first not a random digital alien.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:31 am
i’ve already come to terms that this will be something I will someday watch on TBS or Spike and be doubly pissed because I have to deal with the endless commercials.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
lol @ gocitizen’s post
June 4th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
ok, i get that this guy isn’t the first choice for Terminator, but we could give him a chance. Chuck is actually a pretty funny show, and Supernatural has had a good run, so someone must like it. the Charlie’s Angels movies werent great but they had a lot of action, he didnt write them, he cant be blamed for a bad script. and who knows, maybe the OC would have been worse without him, maybe he was the one who injected the Sandy/Seth comedy, maybe without him it would have just been 90210. i mean the guy directed documentaries on Sublime and Cypress Hill, so he can’t be all bad.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I really don’t have a problem with McG, his credits read like a list of things not to see but whatever.
Problem I have is the parts where Marcus is a T_800 from Project Angel back in 2004.
Ripping off Connors skin and putting it on an endo to keep up morale in the resistance ranks.
(Those bother me like a daggers in my eyes.)
As we move closer to the release date these details will ether be confirmed or debunked. Rest assured if these details turn out to be true,,,, o boy, the fans are going to demand their money back, and there prob won’t be a sequel. McG and possibly even Bale will become hated throughout the land.
What scares me now is read the title again.
Terminator Salvation , the future begins.
I can read between the lines and it all points to a Terminator Connor.
McG needs to stop dwelling on his name and ratings and come clean on this rumor!
As Sarah Connor would say:
“you know what I believe in, your allready dead Silberman! So don’t fuck with me!”.
Open the door Mcg!