Terminator 6 is now receiving a spit and polish on its script by Hunger Games writer Billy Ray. Obviously Billy is unable to talk about the finer details but we wanted to ask him some questions and raise some concerns.
What does it feel like to be involved in a sequel to Terminator 2 Judgment Day (one of the most successful sequels of all time)?
It’s a thrill, a challenge, a blessing – and a great opportunity.
What is your favorite Terminator movie and why?
T-2 is my favorite. That movie blew me away.
How does it feel to be working with a fully formed character like Sarah Connor?
Sarah is an icon, but she’s also a person. In other words, she’s imperfect. That makes her fun to write.
From what you have read of the story so; far will Schwarzenegger’s Terminator be a fresh take/spin?
Yes. This will be an Arnold you’ve never seen before.
Some fans are concerned that there were no female writers in the writers room. You have worked with the character of Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. Do you think your experience of working on that franchise will aid in polishing the strong female aspects of the next Terminator movies characters of Sarah Connor and Dani Ramos?
I was not in that room, have only been aboard this project for a month. And I can certainly appreciate the concerns on this level. That said, when you have Jim Cameron in the room, you have a feminist in charge. Period. Look at his movies. Women are the central figure in ALL of them. And I can tell you from my few meetings with him now; no one cares more about how women are portrayed in a movie than Jim does. By the way, the same is true of Tim Miller. He has a true reverence for Sarah – we all do. And, of course, there will be other female characters in the new movie who will be epic in their own ways, and fully-dimensional.
Passing the torch to new characters has been met with some backlash and criticism eg. not wanting a swan song for Sarah Connor- or for this to be the last Terminator movie for Schwarzenegger and Hamilton; obviously it needs to be done in the most respectful way possible to the fan base but even at this late stage, are the studios still listening to fans opinions/wants and needs about wanting those characters to be lead/center stage and an ongoing part of the new trilogy or is the torch pass set in stone?
Passing the torch is part of creating a sequel. After T-1 it might have sounded like sacrilege to imagine Arnold being a HERO in T-2. But it worked. T-Fans just need to know this: the franchise is in the hands of storytellers who love it and respect it. I’m now among them, and I take that responsibility very seriously.
Will John Connor, or lack thereof, be addressed in the new movie- is he part of the new story even if Edward Furlong doesn’t reprise his role?
GO SEE THE MOVIE!!!
Thanks for taking time out from working on the new Terminator movie to speak with us Billy.
We’re going to have Sarah Connor, Dani Ramos and other interesting female characters. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have a completely fresh take as an Aged Terminator with a new spin and we have a team of people who say they respect these characters and for fans not to worry. Obviously we are always going to be worried especially with the last few movies and how they turned out but that is a weight Terminator 6 will bear and, hopefully, because of it the next Terminator could be the one that fans have been waiting for… HOPEFULLY!
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The real problems are:
1. Connor’s quest to triumph over Skynet is what attract us in the first place! You can’t do Star Wars prequel (good premise badly excuted) without Anakin’s journey to the Dark Side!
2. John Connor’s character is always under-developed after T2! His story arc is either finished along with the whole series in T2, or simply unfinished! A savior tortured by fate, such a great drama which we never get to see in live-action, yet the savior’s effort is so trashed away (we had enough of John Connor let’s move on!) since Judgment Day came and went in 1997…
3. The “original” story is not quite finished and everybody include Cameron is hurry to jump the ship with excuse like “get rid of old contrain” “more creative freedom”, and then go for messy semi-re-re-reboot which pretends to be in connection with original!
Nobody would complain how “elseworld” stuff would wreck Superman comic since they are NOT really connected!
Now what we have is discarding the reason the series exist in the first place yet pretend it’s same series!
4. Wrong evaluation leads to more wrongful evaluation:
“Audience are tire of same set of characters’ story over again”…correct! But that’s because most of those “tiresome” “fatigue inducing” filler should NEVER have existed in the first place!
Passing torch is only good and touching when old characters’ arc is/are properly concluded. What happens now is simply throwing bat to new characters and run off!
Again, old characters’ story are NOT PROPERLY CONCLUDED!
5. Good sequel needs good logic extension, if it can’t be done then the sequel shouldn’t exist!
BLADE RUNNER 2049: finally a good example of what can be done. It’s not like non of the T-sequel writers involved ever tried their best, but putting effort in the wrong direction achive nothing but more hate.
What can be done with what we have now:
1. Can’t you guys just adapt S.M.Stirling books, the best non-film sequel to date, instead? Nobody tried adapt sequel from authorized media before! The books got some problem but things can be fixed during adaptation process. ALIENS also got plenty of published sequels far superior than live-action ones!
2. Bill Wisher’s treatment is not problem-free, but it seems nobody bother to use what’s good in them as groundwork!
3. The problem I have with Dami Ramon character, if it’s true, is that she is yet ANOTHER attempt to supplant John Connor. But I would be happy if she turns out to be “another Skywalker”…not Connor sister, but a crucial backup in cross-timeline deployment. Better if she lead in frontline while John Connor lead in overall strategical term, and it would be more dramatic if she end up leading THE ASSAULT OF COROLADO.
Kick-ass girl is not problem, kick-ass girl in Hollywoodish pretty shape is.
4. Personal opinion:
Real T3 should be about how attempt to change future NEVER success, T4 or T5 should be about how cross-timeline tactic which leads to finally eradiction of Judgment Day