A lot of intonation can be lost when a quote is written down. So, when McG replied to the question 'Who would be your perfect Terminator?' with, "Josh Brolin's a very exciting actor - we'll see", he may have been making an observation or he may have been not so subtly hinting at who he's lining up to fill Arnie's leather trousers* for Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.
The director dropped the remark while talking to The213.com (you can read the full interview here). We've never been sold on the idea of a fourth Terminator film, even when we heard that Christian Bale was going to play an older John Connor. But Brolin as an unstoppable killing machine? We like that. We like that a lot. Really, that would be some very smart casting. Brolin's a terrific actor, he's on a hot streak and with a few hours in the gym, he could absolutely look the part. Most importantly, he's got that slightly cold look in his eyes that any murderous robot needs.
Elsewhere in the interview, McG said that he's spoken with James Cameron, director of the first two movies, extensively because he wants to honour the feel of his films. He also says that the movie takes place in 2019, "so there really is no continuation" from the third. Terminator 4 is currently prepping and has a workable script, but the director still wants to punch it up once the strike is over.
We've been very critical of McG's involvement in this film, but we have to give the guy his dues and say that he seems to be making a lot of the right choices since he came on board. Bale is clearly a great person to have on board; talking with Cameron shows real respect and humility; and adding Brolin to the mix would be an extremely clever move. We haven't liked the films he's made so far, but we're going to give McG the benefit of the doubt here and hope that, for his and all moviegoers' sakes, that he can pull this off. What do you think?
*That sounded a lot more wrong than it was supposed to. On many levels.