Terminator Geniesyths

The movie will feature three different versions of the time displacement machines, sometimes referred to as TDMs. The TDMs in the movie appear in the years 1984, 2017 and 2029. Each TDM looks very distinct because of who created them and the fact they were created in the times in which they appear, with currently-available technology.

The film will take place in multiple time periods: 1984, 1995, and 2029, with no one time period dominating the screen time. The movie will ask the question: what can and can’t be changed in time?

The 1984 Time Displacement Machine was created by the Terminator. It is created of found parts jerry-rigged together, with two sets of arms that spin opposite each other. The electromagnetic-looking machine is hidden in an old sewer system which has walls lined with refrigeration units. The set took 2 months to design and 6 weeks to build.

The time machines in the movie are designed using electromagnetic fields, which is apparently a big story point. The perfect electromagnetic field requires refrigeration to function which is why the 1984 TDM set is lined with refrigeration devices.

The original Terminator film was influenced by the Cold War paranoia of nuclear holocaust. Today is a different world — we can’t wait to get the latest technology, and Skynet has put it into everyone’s hands. Consumers are not only willing to buy, they wait in lines around the block for the latest piece of tech from the company.

Terminator: Genisys will dig deeper into the subject of the singularity. Big companies like Apple and Google are already focusing on wearables, and the next step is bionic implants. Bonding man and machine is right around the corner, and this is a comment on our society and where we are headed. Genisys is a commentary on the amount of trust we put in machines, and in the technology we love. Freedom and free will are what is terrifying in this film.

Terminator: Genisys was described as not a traditional remake or a continuation or a sequel, but more of a reimagining — kind of like JJ Abrams’ Star Trek. The film will allow moviegoers to experience the story we have already seen, but in a different way. The story features a divergent timeline that goes off an entirely different direction, and taking is down a road we’ve never been on before. This is not a direct sequel, there is no straight line from A to B.

There will be fun references and hidden gags for fans of the first two Terminator films. For example, some of the familiar wardrobe will be featured in the new film. Costume designer Susan Matheson went on a long journey to get the exact Nike sneaker Kyle Reese wears in The Terminator. Two months before starting on the movie she began looking for the sneakers. She went on eBay but every set was used and didn’t look new. She began hounding Nike but they wanted her to design using their ID custom sneaker system, and the sneaker wouldn’t look the same. So she ended up talking to Paramount and begged them to make it happen. Nike responded by stopping their production line and making 25 pairs of the original sneaker from the original film. Jai said he wants to keep a pair of his character’s Nikes after the shoot.

This movie very specifically uses James Cameron’s vision as it’s source material, while not discounting the other two films. Director Alan Taylor described it best as the “first two films are our compass, inspiration and our guide.” All of the cast and crew referenced the first and second Terminator films but not the others. Its not that they are pretending the other films didn’t happen, but the story is based more on the first two installments. Taylor felt the main tension of the series was lost once the stories started being set more in the future. Arnold says they are ignoring the last movie almost entirely.

We will see moments that fans will recognize, but not remakes of those moments. Jason Clarke thinks Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier really got the script right, honoring the franchise we know yet making it feel new. He compared the movie to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which was opening in theaters the day we were on set, saying they brought real intelligence and respect to the script.

The first movie was ultimately a love story, the second film was a father/son story, the third and fourth are more complicated. This film doesn’t have the remarkable simplicity of the first two films but is designed to have a tighter core. Director Alan Taylor says that the first film was a horror movie, the second film is a thriller, and this movie is a dysfunctional family story: Mirroring father figures in this with a love story at the core and the issue of family.

The theme of the movie has to do with what we give and take from this world and what responsibility it holds.

Terminator: Genisys begins in the year 2029, the same place the first Terminator film starts, with John Connor sending Kyle Reese back to protect his mother. But this is not a remake of that first Terminator film — something is different and things don’t play out as expected once Arnold gets to 1984.

We will see how the world comes to an end as the machines start to take over.

This film is more of an ensemble story than the previous Terminator stories. The characters are the same people we know but they have been shaped by different circumstances. Not one of the four characters has the same opinion about another character.

Jason Clarke plays an older John Connor in this film. He watched Eddie Furlong’s performance as young John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day and used it to help create his own performance. Clarke says John Connor in this is different because it is completely believable, it is a developed character and not just a character type. We will finally see John Connor own the role of the chosen one.

Kyle Reese, played by Jai Courtney in this movie, is John Connor’s right hand man but their relationship is obviously very complicated as they are now working together while aware they are also father/son. The script doesn’t dance around the circumstances and plays with that new dynamic. Courtney revisited the previous films but just for context — he doesn’t try to replicate Michael Biehn or Anton Yelchin’s performances.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is playing a version of the classic T-800 from a timeline we’ve never seen and in a way we’ve never seen. He’s spent a lot of time with Sarah Connor already. On set and in the script Arnold’s character is referenced as “Guardian” but the nickname was only for behind-the-scenes production use. It’s his job in this film to protect Sarah Connor and to destroy anything that comes in his way.

The T-800 will wear leather. Since he travels to different times there are different outfits and at least two of them will involve leather and some of the choices will be very different.

Emilia Clarke plays Sarah Connor in the new film. She first watched the Terminator films when her older brother forced her watch them as a kid. She ended up loving the series and now her brother is so envious that she’s now part of the franchise’s legacy.

JK Simmons plays a character named O’Brien.