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Terminator's Cameron reminisces—and distances himself from Salvation
James Cameron reminisces about the first Terminator movie in a new essay in Wired, but says of McG's upcoming sequel: "I'm not involved in Terminator Salvation. I've never read the script. I'm sure I'll be paying 10 bucks to see it like everybody else."
"I've been fascinated ever since by our human propensity for dancing on the edge of the apocalypse," Cameron writes. "So when I wrote the first Terminator outline around 1982, I was just working out my childhood stuff. It was also born out of the science fiction movies and literature I grew up with. For the most part, they were warnings—about technology, about science, about the military and the government. You couldn't escape those themes or the fear of nuclear holocaust."
What Cameron brought to the previously told story of a hit man from the future trying to change past events was the concept of "a flesh-covered endoskeleton," he says. "That was new. So for me it was all about how we could develop stop-motion animation and puppetry to create a true robotic endoskeleton. The team at visual-effects house Stan Winston Studio jumped into it and made it work."
Cameron adds that he doesn't really believe that there will come a war by machines to wipe out humanity in the next generation. "The stories function more on a symbolic level, and that's why people key into them," he says. "They're about us fighting our own tendency toward dehumanization."
Terminator Salvation opens on May 21.
By JiM at 8:45 PM ON 03/24/09
Does Cameron read the news? or even look at history? all most everything scifi has come true to some level. But o well. batter always run out.
By Kerrith at 9:05 PM ON 03/24/09
FYI, the link does not go to the Wired essay.
By darkstrad at 9:18 PM ON 03/24/09
Yea, the links wrong.
b ut, if you scroll about halfway down the page, you can read Mitch Rubenstein's feelings about sci fi's name change.
By squirrel at 9:30 PM ON 03/24/09
So he didn't do anything after T2 cause he wasn't inspired enough....
Fix the captcha
By SCI FI Wire at 10:21 PM ON 03/24/09
Sorry, we've fixed the link.
By squirrel at 11:38 PM ON 03/24/09
And what about the captcha....
By Muldfeld at 4:54 AM ON 03/25/09
Huh? So, Mr. Cameron finds the Terminator theme to really be about our own tendency toward dehumanization, eh? Sounds like he would love BSG. Too bad BSG had to end with a warning about creating artificial intelligence and didn't emphasize the repetitive conflict between humans.
In any case, the TV series' last 3 episodes eclipse the films for me and anything McG could come up with. I hope it survives into the next season!
By Al at 11:10 AM ON 03/25/09
Dehumanizing of humans?
Isn't that what hollywood is known for?
The more I see the lengths people are willing to go to for their looks and superficial lives the less real they seem.
I've heard it said that computer graphics are still not able to mimic people because of the complex facial expressions we possess, but to look at the extensive botox and other treatments being used to remove wrinkles and other imperfections it seems to me that the goal of hollywood is to make movies as inhuman as possible.
As for the new Terminator movie, I'm looking forward to it and expect it to more than warrant a continuation of the franchise.
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Al:
Dehumanizing of humans? Isn't that what hollywood is known for? The more I see the lengths people are willing to ...More »